


The Tunnels

by naturalselection



Series: Saltwater Room [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-04-04 18:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 82,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4148340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naturalselection/pseuds/naturalselection
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the expense of another, Vriska, Tavros, Sollux and their mentor, the Handmaid, escape from the Retainment Organisation through a series of extensive tunnels from the past nuclear war, just as the tidal wave to destroy earth hits. Tensions run high in the team due to Vriska's murder of Aradia, and without the removal of the near microscopic tracking devices, Team Eight will never truly be safe.<br/>Meanwhile, those still held captive suffer the blow of losing friends, but must continue their work, even if said work risks their lives.<br/>All twelve realise soon, however, that their time with the Condesce has changed them, perhaps into the monsters people insist they are.</p><p>The story is sci-fi and dystopian mostly, with adventure, romance and a Battle Royale/Hunger Games feel to it, set on Earth in roughly 2090.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intermission

**Author's Note:**

> FINALLY posting the next installment of this on AO3!! The next nine chapters of this are actually complete, but it's going to take a long time to post it on here because formatting it takes aaaages :')  
> As always, it's already on fanfiction so you can catch up with it on there UwU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that today, the thirteenth of December, is this young man's dad's birthday. Though it was almost seventeen years ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!

What will the name of this young man be?

Enter name…

**== > Zoosmell Pooplord**

Try again, smartass.

**== > Try again: John Egbert**

Your name is John Egbert.

As was previously mentioned it is your DAD'S BIRTHDAY. A number of CAKES are scattered about your room. You still haven't a clue why he's baking YOU cakes on HIS birthday, but whatever. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for REALLY TERRIBLE MOVIES.

You like to program computers but you are NOT VERY GOOD AT IT. You have a fondness for PARANORMAL LORE, and are an aspiring AMATEUR MAGICIAN. You also like to play GAMES sometimes.

**== > This all sounds very familiar… retrieve arms**

Yeah, because that gag's not old! People have been using that one for years, and it was already old immediately after it was said. Who even uses that joke now anyway?

In actual fact, John had not 'stood', as such, in his room since around half an hour prior, when he had returned from his quest to grab some breakfast. Since then, he had been sat before the computer, a chat box open with red and blue text plastering the white background.

Suddenly, a noise from outside.

He span somewhat lethargically in his wheelie chair, turning to face the window, then dragged himself towards it, refusing to get up out of the chair.

Outside, his dad was visible, doing one of his legendary infinite car-washes. He had not yet noticed the large van parked on the kerb.

Maybe it was the post, which would be pretty sweet; they could be delivering birthday packages. Such as the one John himself had ordered.

A man climbed out of the passenger side of the car and made his way toward John's dad. Their conversation sounded mumbled at best from John's distance, and the fact that his dad had that pipe of his stuck in the corner of his mouth did little to help the enunciation.

Wait, his dad had raised his voice. Odd. Even when John had his super bratty moments, the man had never so much as gone over a firm 'no'.

They continued to speak, before another came from the van with a formal looking document. She handed it to John's father, which he scanned. Although even after reading it, he still looked mad.

John, naturally intrigued by what was going on, tried to work his way downstairs… only to find that his door was locked. Stupid fathers and their lousy goddamn stupid plans to stop you sneaking downstairs to peek at his latest cake before it was done. He wouldn't even have done that! Jeez.

Heading back over to the window, he was alarmed to see one of the van owners, a strange person clad completely in black, pinning his dad to the car body, his arms tucked behind his back as to not be of any bother. Another two of these people started heading towards his door. But then… where was the other guy?

Knock knock.

Ah. There he was.

Well the joke was on him since the door was locked- oh. Okay, never mind, the man had decided to knock the door down instead.

And while he was no Dave, John had always been a fairly scrawny kid, so the black-clad people had little difficulty in grabbing the boy and throwing him into the back of the van.

And so it began.

* * *

A young lady stands in her bedroom. Due to a violent storm, her house had just lost power, along with her wireless internet connection. This has severed her link to the outside world. Darn. This young lady named…

Named…

It's on the tip of your tongue. What was the name of this young lady again?

Enter name…

**== > Flighty Broad**

No, that wasn't it!

**== > One more time: Rose Lalonde**

Your name is Rose Lalonde.

As was previously mentioned you are without ELECTRICITY, although your LAPTOP COMPUTER still functions on BATTERY POWER… which has conveniently decided to RUN OUT. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for RATHER OBSCURE LITERATURE. You enjoy creative writing and are somewhat secretive about it.

You have a fondness for the BESTIALLY STRANGE AND FICTITIOUS, and sometimes dabble in PSYCHOANALYSIS. You also like to KNIT, and your room is a BIT OF A MESS. And on occasion, if just the right one strikes your fancy, you like to play VIDEO GAMES with your friends.

**== > Retrieve arms from the purple box**

Not this again…

Rose continued to play a particularly haunting refrain on her violin. Without any power, she had decided that practicing her violin would be a fine pursuit, ignoring all odd urges to writhe like a flagellum and puke on her bed.

Because, ugh! What a terrible idea! The thought alone made her sick to her stomach. Really, whomever it was that was messing with her had a pretty lame sense of humour.

Well, at least the overpowering sound of her mother's vacuum cleaner had stopped.

But darn, she had really wanted to check with John if her package to him had arrived yet. If she had planned it all correctly, it should have arrived bang on his dad's birthday, but she of all people knew how treacherous the postal service could be, when most of her own birthday presents had gotten mixed up and ended up arriving weeks later. Bluh.

It would serve as a lesson to him not to over rely on her for his own dad's birthday presents.

Her mother's voice rang clear up the stairs, "Roooosie darling?"

Oh man.

"Yes?"

"I'm just heading out to get something. I'll be back soon."

"Okay." Rose called back, before turning to the window again.

_Crack!_

The jolts of lighting shooting through the sky cast a dramatic light upon the car heading down their driveway. Rose watched it go, before slinking out of her room.

**== > Contemplate season**

How you hate this season.

Food food food. Damn. There had to be some somewhere in this house…

Pausing in front of the refrigerator, once the battle ground of a passive-aggressive stint, Rose smirked. The evidence of this battle with her mother had remained on the fridge for several years now, both too amused by it to take it down.

Well anyway, passive-aggressive battles aside, the fridge served its purpose well and delivered the goods. A simple omelette later, Rose was climbing the stairs back to her room when…

Knock knock!

Huh? She could not imagine it to be anyone other than her mother but… her mum would not knock; she would just barge inside in that characteristically tipsy manner of hers.

"Coming!"

Rose dashed into her room, fishing her house keys from her bag before descending the stairs and unlocking the door.

Before her stood a man with a shock of light-coloured hair, and eerie green eyes against skin even paler than hers. Which was impressive, given the little sunlight she felt was of the weak New-Yorkian variety, so anyone paler than her must hardly get out at all. Behind him stood three people clad head to toe in a lightweight body armour.

"Good evening, my dear. My name is Doc Scratch. Is your mother in?" he asked.

* * *

Suddenly, a really cool dude. He's standing around being chill, like cool dudes are known to do sometimes. A cool dude like this probably has a real cool name. But he probably wouldn't just tell you what it was. He'd be way too busy for that. Busy being totally sweet.

But you could always try to guess his name. And if you were right, he may nod ever so slightly. That's a cool dude's way of letting you know there may just be hope for you yet.

Enter name…

**== > Insufferable pri-**

This guy doesn't have time for this sort of bullshit.

**== > Try again: Dave Strider**

Your name is Dave Strider.

It is an UNSEASONABLY WARM April day. Your BEDROOM WINDOW is open to let some air in, and your FAN is cranked. Arguably even more cranked would be your FLY BEATS, which brings us to your variety of INTERESTS. A cool dude like you is sure to have plenty.

You have a penchant for spinning out UNBELIEVABLY ILL JAMS with your TURNTABLES AND MIXING GEAR. You like to rave about BANDS NO ONE'S EVER HEARD OF BUT YOU. You collect WEIRD DEAD THINGS PRESERVED IN VARIOUS WAYS. You are an AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER and operate your own MAKESHIFT DARKROOM. You maintain a number of IRONICALLY HUMOROUS BLOGS, WEBSITES AND SOCIA NETWORKING PROFILES. And if the inspiration striked, you won't hesitate to drop some PHAT RHYMES on a mofo and REPRESENT.

**== > Quickly retrieve arms from cinderblocks**

Nah.

Odd, the guy he had been talking to had suddenly disappeared. Rude.

Oh well. Not like Dave minded John ignoring him. No, not in the least. In fact, this meant that there were other candidates now open to pester.

Dave reached out to turn the electric fan up a notch, only to realise he had already tried to do that, and with the same results each time. The fan had broken earlier that morning and he had yet to get a new one. It had been on the blink for a number of weeks now, although usually a sharp rap on the top got it back into order, but apparently it was too far gone now.

Eh. Maybe later. If he could be bothered to brave the long walk to the electronics store… in the heat…

And then lug the heavy box up all those stairs, since some dumbass kid had decided it would be a fun idea to break the lift. Who even did that in this part of town?

But it was so hot, some kinds of his preserved animals were beginning to, well, stink.

Oh? Someone was contacting him.

gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]

GG: hi dave!

TG: hey sup

GG: not much really!

GG: i just wanted to ask you if youd spoken to john or rose today :)

TG: yeah i was just dropping phat birthday rhymes on john at all angles

TG: bitch didnt know what parts to cover

TG: but hes idle now right in the middle of a choice verse

GG: someone sounds upset!

GG: i hope a certain cool kids cool isnt slipping! ;)

TG: calm it harley that shit aint happening no time soon

GG: if you say so! ;)

TG: you might want to get that left eyelid of yours checked out

TG: looks like its stuck in a permanently suggestive way stuff like that can destroy a man

GG: oops!

GG: yes ill get it checked by a doctor immediately thank you so much cool kid

GG: you might just have saved a life today!

GG: ;p

GG: anyway i was just checking because i cant get through to either of them

GG: time zone shenanigans aside

TG: rose mentioned something about a storm so maybe the electricitys down

TG: doesnt explain john though but who knows what that kids up to

GG: cant your 'best bro' senses tell you anything?!

TG: i sense another wink

TG: hold it in harley youre better than this

GG: lol

TG: going cold turkey thats my girl

GG: youre so silly dave!

GG: so i guess theyve both just lost connection then

GG: anyway how is everything in texas? :)

GG: (and no winks!)

TG: well hot for a start

GG: oh nooo! :(

TG: i dont know what you were expecting really

GG: your fans broken again isnt it?

GG: just get a new one already!

TG: shit woman are you a psychic

GG: lucky guess?

GG: you were complaining to john about it and he told me!

TG: so youve been lying to me about being a psychic this whole time

TG: how could you

GG: dave!

GG: we can talk about my non existent psychic powers later!

GG: go get yourself a new fan!

TG: s'alright

TG: its not that hot

GG: prove it mister!

TG: man what do you want me to do

GG: i want you to go get yourself a new fan or prove to me youre not sitting there overheating

GG: i know what youre like!

TG: okay maam

TG: this is me logging off doing a fucking acrobatic pirouette off pesterchum to go buy a fan

GG: damn right you are!

TG: see ya then

TG: say hi to your grand dad for me too ok

GG: yeah sure!

GG: bye!

GG: <3

turntechGodhead [TG] is now offline

GG: wait dave!

GG: i think someones broken into my house

GG: fuck

Well, at least in this bright sunshine, Dave had an excuse to be wearing his shades. And Jade was probably onto something, making him go get a new fan. It was getting all kinds of hot in there, what with the sun heating up the building, combined with the warmth from his electronics and the fact that the fan was broken.

He'd yelled that he was going out, just in case bro was in, but hell if Dave knew where his elusive brother was.

Ugh. This sun was unbearable, even in the loose white t-shirt he was wearing. Okay, maybe full-length dark coloured jeans were not the best option, but there was no way he was wearing shorts or something. Christ, who did you think he was?

And the heat would certainly explain why few people were out today.

Wait… he'd forgotten the sun-cream. Fuck. He was going to burn like one of John's dad's cakes when the timer's batteries ran out of juice. Except maybe not burn in the going charred and black sense of the word. More, go a very attractive shade of red over his freckles, with the worst affected areas of skin peeling all over the place. What a delight.

Calm it Strider. Almost at the electronics store- huh?

Fine, call him paranoid. But after growing up with Bro Strider all of his life, Dave's senses were pretty damn fine, and he could have sworn he had heard someone behind him, their steps matching his perfectly except… there. Another slip up, a footstep slightly out of time.

Right, just carry on a few more steps, act as if all is fine and-

A cloth was shoved over his mouth, and in his shock, Dave inhaled the vapours like an idiot. He vaguely recalled being dragged into the back of a van before blacking out.

* * *

A silly girl naps by her flowers. It is quite likely that she tired herself out with a variety of silly antics, as silly girls are often known to do. She may have a silly name too. Or maybe not. It is hard to say for sure without asking her.

But since she's slumbering so peacefully, it would be a shame to wake her up. You might as well just give her a name right now.

Enter name…

**== > Farmstink Buttlass**

Alas! She is too deep in her slumber to protest at the name!

**== > Wake up!**

You try to rouse Farmstink from her slumber, but she is really down for the count!

It looks as if she is holding some sort of NOTE.

**== > Retrieve arms from-**

They are RIGHT THERE. In PLAIN SIGHT. Look, they may as well be FLASHING RED and we are not going to end this final introduction on such a STUPID AND IMMATURE note, are we?

**== > Drop pumpkin on Farmstink**

Fucks sake. Even if there WAS a pumpkin, that would be a terrible thing to do to poor, sweet Farmstink.

**== > Read note**

'farmstink? that is incredibly silly and a little bit rude! my name is ==>'

**== > Try again: Jade Harley**

Your name is Jade Harley.

You have just woken from a restful nap, and as usual you have no recollection of having fallen asleep. You have quite a number of INTERESTS. So many in fact, you have trouble keeping track of them all, even with an assortment of COLOURFUL REMINDERS on your fingers to help you sort out everything on your mind. Nevertheless, when you spend time in your GARDEN ATRIUM, the only thing on your mind is your deeps passion for HORTICULTURE.

Jade, despite all earlier claims of being very silly, was currently hiding beneath her desk, and having just smacked a magazine of bullets into her rifle, was deciding whether calling her dog to her would be a good idea or not.

Immediately after Dave had left their conversation, she had heard a loud crash from downstairs. And when you lived on a random island in the middle of the Pacific with no one but yourself and your dog… well… it was a little alarming to say the least.

And despite how it would probably have no effect whatsoever, Jade desperately sent out messages to her friends, informing them of her situation, and whether they knew what to do. But to her dismay, none replied. None whatsoever. Sons of bitches the lot of them. And one daughter as well, she guessed.

Actually, no, that was a little unfair on their mums. Whoever they were. Argh, what? Focus, Harley!

Becquerel could suddenly be heard barking from downstairs. Well shit.

The chair and desk combo would probably give her a few seconds of concealment, but nothing more than that. If she was going to drive these people away, whoever they were, then she was going to have to make a big show of power and bluff them off, as she didn't really want to just blast them to smithereens.

Then, above the sound of Dave's music mixes, she could hear the stairs creaking.

Okay okay okay okay. Calm.

Jade took a deep breath, resting the front of the rifle on the chair to steady it, then began to wait.

… and wait…

… and wait…

Jeez, this burglar or whatever it was sure was taking their time getting up the stairs. Although she could sympathise a little on that front: the stairs took ages to climb, which was why she almost always used the transportalizer pads.

Creak… creak… creak… tap tap tap.

They had reached the top floor of her home: the greenhouse.

"Hello?"

A kind looking gentleman walked into the room, clad in a white suit over a vibrant green shirt. It did not immediately seem as if he would want to cause Jade harm. Perhaps he had simply crashed a plane or boat nearby, and was looking for help. But judging by the all of the bite marks and rips on his suit, Bec was not as optimistic about the man's arrival. And that's really what mattered.

A bullet left her gun and found its mark, chipping the wall right next to the man's head.

"Jade, isn't it?" he asked, eyes seeking her out, and finding her almost instantly. At the widening of her gaze, he decided that he was correct, and so continued. "Jade, come now, we have no need for such aggressive mannerisms."

"How do you know my name?" Having not properly spoken in a while, her voice initially came out a little squeaky.

A small smirk rose on the man's face, as he ignored the question. "My name is Doc Scratch, and I am here to take you away from here. Somewhere safe."

This Doc Scratch must be from social services, of whatever the equivalent would be in the middle of the pacific. Wait, since her granddad had owned the island… surely it would not be accountable to US laws… oh gross. Jade could not claim to be an expert in such matters, but ever since she and her grandpa had moved to this island when she was thirteen, it had been as if they were in a land of their own, and safe from the outside world of mutants and impending war. She'd never had to think about things such as 'custody' and 'schooling', so she had not bothered learning about it.

And then grandpa had died, and now she had this guy breaking into her house. Fucking great.

"Who are you?" she demanded, aiming the gun at his chest.

"I was under the impression that I had introduced myself already. I am Do-"

"I got that part," Jade snarled. "I meant, _who are you_ , and _what_ are you doing on my island?"

"Oh. I would have thought that a seventeen year old girl with only a dog for company would be thrilled to see someone else on her island. Especially such a charming man as I."

" _Why are you here_?" she asked firmly, raising her voice slightly.

"I am certain that I have already told you that, as well. Come out from under the desk, and I shall tell you in greater detail."

"I'm not going anywhere. And don't come closer."

"Please, my dear, be reasonable." he purred, taking a step forwards before a bullet clipped the side of his thigh, staining the surrounding area of fabric a bright lime-green with his blood. So they were of the same blood caste, huh?

Jade aimed the muzzle of her gun back at his chest, and growled, " _I said don't come any fucking closer_!"

"I tried to give you a chance to come peacefully, yet you disregarded my manners." He then backed out from the room, and she could hear his footsteps plodding down the corridor, accompanied by the odd curse word muttered just under his breath.

Jade let out the breath she had been holding. With the intruder's leg ruined, it was unlikely that he could do any damage to her now-

Okay, hold the phone, she could now hear the pattering of feet rushing up the stairs. She should have known that man would not come alone. But honestly, this was all so weird and confusing to begin with, that Jade excused herself for not having a clue what was going on.

It was then when three people in body armour dashed into the room. The first took the brunt of Jade's bullets, then pulled a sword from their odd, dragon-headed cane and sliced at the chair in front of Jade. The top of it fell to the ground, and Jade was certain that if she could see the rapier-wielder's face, they would be grinning.

This person yanked the chair back from it's place in front of Jade, with another pulling the gun from her grip near effortlessly. The final member of the trio dragged her out from under the desk by the tops of her arms, then as soon as the girl stood up, drew them behind her in a secure hold.

" _Let go of me_!" she shrieked, attempting to kick at the person behind her with poor results. It was then when she noticed the tall horns on the two – uh, ninjas? – before her. " _Wait! You're mutants_!"

The ninja-thing with the sword nodded to the one holding her, a signal, it seemed, to smash her in the side of the head with the handle of their sickle. Bastard.

* * *

When Jade awoke, she was aware of very little, other than the blood that had dried down one side of her face, and of the soft rumbling coming through the floor.

As the fuzziness of her mind cleared, she established that she was in the back of a van. And judging by the hushed voices, there were other people in here… but Jade was in no mood to attempt the arduous task of sitting up and opening her eyes, so she lay where she was a while longer. Perhaps she could figure out who they were without having to ask…

"Is she waking?"

Ugh, was that all they were going to say? Although maybe they had discussed their identities and all that jazz while she was still asleep. Drat.

"Jade?" A warm hand pressed against her shoulder, then lightly shook her. "Jade?"

Time to get up. With a little help from whom had shaken her, she sat up and was met with the faces of three teens, probably all around her age. Oh!

To her right sat Rose, a pretty violet blood that she spoke to often via pesterchum and video chat, but had never met in person, although both Dave and John had met her in real life. She had been the one to help her up.

"'sup, Harley?" She turned to see Dave sitting at her left, those trademark shades sitting comfortably on the bridge of his nose and, oh wow, that was a sunburn and a half.

"Dave! Your nose is bright red!" she giggled, and the small smirk on his face turned into a pout.

"Shit, you don't need to drill me too. I've already had Egbert on my case for the past few hours."

So then the other person…

"Hi Jade!"

"John!" Jade leapt at the boy opposite her and hugged him tightly. "Hi! Did my package come?"

"Sorry, it hadn't arrived when I checked last. Well, before I got kidnapped anyway."

"So that's why none of you replied to my messages!"

"Yes. We were all too busy being knocked out with chloroform to reply to you. Sorry." Rose smirked.

"I'm so disappointed in you all! I mean really, that's no excuse," Jade sniggered, although her expression sobered up quickly as she said, "So. Do any of you know what's going on?"

"'fraid not. We've all just got bunged in here until further notice. And not, shit, better check the news every minute, 'cause that bitch is updating faster than you can say noodles; more like picking up the paper at the end of the day as a collection of all the crap that's gone on in the day."

"Dave. You are babbling." Rose said, which shut the boy up instantly. It seemed to be a habit of his when he got panicky, which, admittedly, could be pretty funny. "That didn't even make sense anyway."

"Yeah it did, were you not even listening? Jesus Christ, Lalonde. Pay some fucking attention to what's going on in your life now and then, would you?"

"Why? Are you going to start rapping about it?"

"What? No."

As the blonds continued their quiet banter, Jade turned back to John, "So you honesty have no idea what's going on?"

"Well I've been thinking it through in my head, and the best I can come up with is that… well the van that pulled up outside my house kinda looked like one of those vans they picked up mutants in."

"And the people who grabbed me had horns or something… oh my god, John! What if the people who've been taking the mutants are actually training them into ninja-soldiers?"

That sentence caught the attention of the Strider-Lalonde duo, and they both gave her incredulous looks. Jade was also fairly certain that she could hear a snigger coming from the front of the van.

"I know you were on an island for four years, but come on, seriously." Dave then stopped, as if a great idea had struck him. "Hey, you're finally off that island and chilling with the cool kids now. How does it feel? Wicked bananas, right?"

"Absolutely!"

And then the subject of why the four of them had been kidnapped was dropped.

After another hour or two in the van, they arrived at some strange location: conglomeration of dusty glass buildings in the middle of a desert.

A group of mutants stood outside, soaking up the sunlight. Their skin was a pale hue of grey, with their horns filled down to mere stumps. Weird.

Once they were all securely restrained, with cuffs and the three mutant-ninja-soldier-things walking alongside them, Doc Scratch led them inside, straight towards a member of staff. They then followed this person through a near endless series of blank white walls and Giger paintings, descended a reasonable distance in a lift, and then continued to walk again.

Where they stopped, a large door awaited, and it was here the errand boy left them.

"Before you go in, I must warn you. The owner of the facility, this woman that you are about to meet is somewhat… different to whom you may be expecting. Do try not to stare; otherwise she may decide to punish you. And do not speak unless she directly asks you a question."

The four teens stood before Doc Scratch simply stared at him. He decided to take this as them understanding his words, and then knocked on the door.

"You may enter." said a voice from the other side of the thick wood.

Sitting behind the desk was a mutant. A mutant. A fully grown, adult mutant, which was _weird_ because the grey-skinned variety had only begun to appear around a decade or so at most ago, and none of them were over the age of thirty, certainly. This woman was definitely in her forties so…

"Good afternoon," She said with a shark-like grin. "How nice of you to finally grace my office, beta. Please, sit down. I am Her Imperious Condescension."

She told them about the mutants in her care, and how She was desperately trying to heal them, or at the very least provide them with jobs so that they could feel worthwhile. She spoke of the three mutants who had brought them here, and how they had turned their lives around.

"How so? By kidnapping innocent people? I fail to see how that is even remotely 'turning your life around' material." Rose pointed out scathingly.

At this, the Condesce rose to her feet, a strange smile on her face as she stepped around them to sit on the desk. She then slapped Rose about the face, leaving a pink hand-shaped mark on her cheek.

"Thank you for your contribution, Rose."

Normally, the other three would have cried out about Rose's treatment but… it felt almost as if there were a heavy pressure weighing down on them, preventing them from moving or even speaking.

"Now. I understand that obviously, you will all be confused, scared and wondering why I have brought you here." She folded her hands together on her lap, then smiled, "We are on the very brink of war. In fact, what is going to start this fight is about to happen in… forty-five minutes. The four of you will be very useful to me after this war. So I need to protect you over the next period of time. This could take any length of time from a few months to a few years. We'll see. Although I doubt that your people will be able to last until April. And certainly not June."

She enjoyed watching their faces as she spoke. How they were unable to express their horror in any way, other than the pattern of their breathing, as the Condesce was controlling every aspect of them save for that.

"So. This is how this shall work. A key member of this warfare I had organised has gone missing, and I need some replacements. We shall be able to get the first phase done fine without them, but for the next parts, we shall need you, and you." She explained, pointing at Dave and then Jade. "You, John, will be involved in protecting our base here. And as for you, Rose. I'm afraid we shall be keeping you as captive."

A sharp inhalation of breath. Yet it sounded more angry, insulted even, than frightened. Although without the facial expressions, it was hard to distinguish between them for sure.

"Well, perhaps 'captive' is not the right choice of word. You shall still be receiving the same amount of training as the others. However you will not be leaving this facility. It is needed to make certain that your friends cooperate. Unlike our other little soldiers, we have not trained you to have loyalty for us. We did not have the time, as we put off taking you. A mistake on my part."

The Condesce then paused, thinking through what she had just said, before continuing, "Although I suppose I was correct at the time. Had we begun kidnapping mutation free humans, the government would have gotten involved, and we would have had to begin this war before we were ready.

'So now, we have about a week to bring out your abilities before we throw you headlong into battle. With your heritage, I am certain you will be able to-"

At these words, the lighting in the room, already dim, flashed out, dropping them into darkness for a few long seconds before the electricity returned.

Frankly, the four would have preferred to sit in the darkness, as the pure fury scored onto her face was terrifying.

"You may leave."

* * *

As She had promised, the next week was filled to the brim with intensive training.

On the first day, their clothes were taken from them and replaced with, allegedly, the standard gear for mutants. Grey-green boiler suits in a strange fleecy material, with a pair of tight, black cut-offs and a vest underneath, topped off with boots. It was surprisingly comfy, actually. And honestly, Dave was just glad he could keep his sunnies.

The rest of this day, the three that were not being kept hostage were tested upon in all manners of ways. Fitness tests, cognitive tests, DNA tests, tests that involved the latest mass spectrometers, tests with strange machinery and tests that could only be described as 'sciency' even by Jade.

At the end of the day, they simply collapsed side by side on one of the beds, and slept through the night in that manner. Somehow, both John and Jade found themselves hugging the Texan boy in their sleep. It had made for an interesting position when they awoke.

Apparently, the room they were staying in had belonged to one of the deserters, only with a bunk bed shoved into the corner. They hadn't had enough time to fix them up with some of their fancy sleeping pods, so the more traditional room was what they got. Not that any of them were complaining.

The second day was the results day, and it was when they branched off into their mini teams. Jade and Dave would have to work together to compliment their skill sets, while John trained with a petite woman from New-Orleans.

"Hello. My name is the Handmaid, and I am your mentor, since I've gone and messed up in the future or something, so now I've got to deal with you humans." Jade and Dave could do little more than gawk at the tall mutant before them. "So I'm the lady who's swell at time-travel… apparently. Something which you've got to master in a couple a' days, shades."

Dave nodded. "Got it, yeah. Master time-travel, sure thing. Anything else you'd like me to do while I'm at it? Slay you some dragons and rescue a damsel from a t-rex then bring you an original copy of Macbeth, because I will be that knight. Saving people through time and space. Hell, I'll even throw in the Declaration of Independence for free. Make Nic Cage proud."

The Handmaid simply gave him a blank look as she tried to figure out the comments. "Excuse me?"

"No, I think I'm the one who missed the point. I mean come on. Time travel? Are you shitting me?"

"I shit you not, as I think it's said." she smirked. "I have to say, I've my doubts about whether I'll be able to get you outta this fix. My time shifts are involuntary."

"Great. Thanks."

"And you, girl, I guess we'll just put you in some tricky situations until you figure it out. Same goes for you, shades. It works like a charm."

It turned out that not only was this Handmaid completely serious about 'tricky situations', but that she was also under exaggerating about said 'tricky situations'.

Her idea of this 'tricky situation' was dunking them into water containing an oddly large squid-like creature, with the only safe haven being a ledge about ten metres above them. When this failed to work (and both Jade and Dave were covered in bands of sucker marks), she got them to go across an assault course that involved heavy usage of mashy-spike-plates and hot water.

Saving them several times with her telekinetic abilities (arguably freaking the both of them out more than the near death experience), the Handmaid then frowned at the lack of results. It would seem that she needed to use a slightly different tactic.

And so following the worst of their wounds being tended to with the latest nanobots, she took them both into a vast room with racks of assorted weapons, a sky-light and scorch marks on the walls.

"You use swords, right?" the maroon-blooded mutant said, and when the boy nodded, she threw a sword at him. Luckily for Dave, he caught it. "Well, _you_ can fight the Brobot then."

"I guess so."

"Attaboy! And Jade?"

"Yes?"

"You're handy with a gun, aren't you? Well, I have some targets left over from my last group. You can use those." She escorted Jade over to the far end of the room, where the burn marks were most evident. "Targets are going to start moving all around you. When they do this, keep calm and don't blow off. Got it?"

They spent the remainder of that day fighting their targets, before shuffling back to their bedroom. While the rapid application of nanobots to their wounds got rid of the physical injury speedily, Jade and Dave were still mentally exhausted. The healing process involved with nanobots also took a lot out of the patient, mainly as in the final stages, it involved the tiny robots drawing matter from the recipients own food stores to heal.

John, exhausted like his team mates, lay sprawled across the only single bed, already asleep. At this sight, Jade and Dave locked eyes before making a mad dash for bottom bunk, neither wanting to bother with the climb for the top. Jade with her slightly longer legs won and dove the best she could onto the bed, claiming it as her own.

Sleep, she decided, was something that would come easily after their long and tiring day. But it seemed Jade was wrong. She lay with her eyes shut for a few seconds at a time, as when she kept them closed for longer, images of that odd squid creature would work their way into her mind and freak her out. After a good five minutes of this, she called out softly, "Dave?"

There was no reply for a bit, and she decided that perhaps he had fallen asleep, yet he then answered, "What is it, Harley?"

"I can't get to sleep."

He paused again.

"Neither can I. The squid, right?"

"Yeah."

They lay in silence for a while longer, before his voice, just about audible from the bed above murmured, "Good job on taking on that squid, by the way. It was like fucking sashimi out there, minus the dipping-sauce."

"Thanks. I figured that being eaten by a squid was a good enough emergency for the emergency knife she gave us," giggled Jade. "I thought she just wanted us to kill it, but she still looked disappointed at the end…"

"It's probably to do with that time travel bullshit." Dave sighed, then judging by the creaking of the bed, he turned over. "Maybe she's trying to 'awaken' our powers by putting us in dangerous situations."

"Just like in your Japanese animes!"

"Hey those were for strictly ironic purposes." he reminded, as if he was trying to win back 'cool-kid' credentials. But Jade was not about to let him off that easily.

"I think all those weird dead things you collect are way less cool than anime, Dave."

"What? Fuck you, my preserved animals are the shit."

Jade tried her best to stifle her laughter, mainly so that she would not wake John but also to prevent her from hurting Dave's feelings too badly. Light-hearted ribbings was part of their interactions, and she doubted they could even have a normal conversation without at least some insults being thrown about, but there was a limit.

"What about that Handmaid?" asked Dave all of a sudden.

"What about her?"

"Well ain't she a _swell doll_?"

" _Ab-so-lute-ly! She's the bee's knees_!"

" _Jeepers creepers_ , these kiddos aren't getting supernatural powers quick enough, better fling them into some tricky situations!"

" _That's the ticket_!"

* * *

Turned out it was _not_ the ticket. Unlike with how the village scenario affected the mutants, how matter how many potentially fatal scenarios the Handmaid put Jade and Dave into, their powers would not awaken. And she knew they had those powers and knew that they would develop soon, but for some reason, whatever it was, it seemed that they were not to come into effect before this fight. Which was not good in the slightest for them.

Apparently stress affected the humans in different way to the mutants. Although the Handmaid guessed that these so called mutants had been sort of engineered for this quick release of their powers. These humans with special abilities were unexpected to say the least, and she would bet her life that the Condesce was fucking relieved to say the least when she found them.

And now, she was going to use them in a fight against their own race.

Really, the best the Handmaid felt she could do in the small time frame she had was give them some basic survival skills on how to navigate a war zone… if one could even do such a thing.

The day they would be needed came round faster than they could have imagined.

* * *

**== > Be Dave at the end of the training week**

You are now Dave Strider at the end of the training week

Dave awoke to find the Handmaid looming overhead, and like most normal people, found himself emitting a shrill shriek and covered his chest with the covers instantly. Then, upon realising his face was bare, hid his eyes. Fuck, where were his shades?

"You shouldn't be so ashamed of your caste, kid," she said with a smirk, as if freaking people out at six in the morning was something she really enjoyed doing. Heck, knowing this crazy broad it was entirely possible. Before waking Jade, she decided to pester him further, and leant on the side of the bed, looming dangerously close to him. "Let me guess, your irises have begun to change colour earlier than you thought, huh?"

Ah, there they were. Honestly, if Dave was not so worried that he would break them, he would wear his sunglasses in his sleep.

"Fine, blank me. Just thought I'd share this with you: originally, all humans had red blood," The Handmaid gave him a wink before shaking Jade awake. "Come on. The Condesce needs to brief you on what you're going to do. And I'll warn you now, she's not pleased at all with you."

And she wasn't. The Condesce started their talk with emphasising how disappointed she was with them and their progress, and how she had expected so much more from them, and it was just rude, really, not delivering after She had put so much work into looking after them.

She then told them that since they had failed to show any hint of their powers under the Handmaid's careful training regime, they would simply have to be sent out into the battlefield to see if the powers would be unlocked. Because the Handmaid was simply the best there was when it came to training, so if she could not do anything, it was unlikely anyone could.

"Either they will be released, and we can undergo our plans more efficiently, or you will be killed, and we do not have to worry about the opposing team stealing what is ours. It's a win-win situation."

Had he not been under the mental oppression of the Condesce, Dave would have asked what She planned to do if they were captured. Oh well. Perhaps that could be a ticket out, although such a route was unlikely.

Both of them received a small implant that was placed just in the crook of their ear. It would allow the Condesce to send them her orders.

"If you do manage to control your powers, I shall contact you," Then, she took Dave's arm and after rolling up the sleeve, injected what appeared to be a wafer-thin microchip just under the skin of his wrist. With a leer, she spread a fine layer of nano-bot gel on the wound, sealing it almost instantly. "This… well, you will find out if the need arises."

After this, they were sent to a room where they were given outfits similar to the mutants whom had taken them, minus the holes for the horns. It was also here where they each received a gun and a knife, which they strapped to their sides in a near languid fashion, trying to delay the inevitable journey to the war zone.

Sure Dave had fought his bro hundreds if not thousand of times, and gotten some pretty serious wounds from it too, but this was different. This would not just be some petty strife. If this mutant-lady was telling the truth, then outside would be a week's worth of fighting laid out before them. No one was ever ready to face that.

Jade's voice broke the silence. "Hey, Dave?"

He turned. "Yeah?"

"Just… don't die out there, okay? If what this woman is saying is true, then there will be some really bad things out there. Stay close to me, I don't want to lose you. In either meaning of the phrase."

"I don't think there are many things that can stand the combined force of Strider-Harley."

"Heh, that wasn't cheesy at all! And why does your name get to go in front?"

"Natural order of things." shrugged Dave. "Seriously, though. We'll be fine. These weird-ass powers will probably jump in to save the day. Just like in my Japanese animes."

"I'm glad we've accepted the Japanese animes!"

"First step on the road to recovery is acceptance. Or something like that."

They laughed weakly, most of the sound blocked by the helmets they wore before Jade went for the kill with an awkward hug, made all the more awkward by the headgear clunking together.

"Seriously, though! Don't die, Strider. I've got my eye on you."

"Of course I won't die, I need all the fucking time I can get if I want to get taller than you."

"Dream all you like, you'll never beat me!"

"Come on, it's only like an inch difference."

* * *

Surprisingly, it was a beat up, old school bus that carted them to the scene of a fight. The two humans sat at the front, a wall of guards sitting between them and the back of the bus, where the groups of pale mutants were.

They were unnerving to say the least, the way that a few of the team's eyes would linger on the people at the front.

"Out." ordered the guard.

The twelve mutants stood in a loose group beside Jade and Dave. After a brief team talk, one of the mutants walked over to the humans and said, "For your own safety, please could you stay out of our way? Our style of fighting can be fairly reckless, and we would hate to injure someone on our side."

Dave turned to Jade, trying to gauge her expression, then looked back to woman before him.

"Sure." Jade shrugged.

With a nod, the mutants left them, heading towards some sort of tent. With the bus gone, the pair now had no idea what to do. Did they just throw themselves into the distant skirmishes, or were they supposed to report to someone?

"Well, go and talk to that woman with the stripes on her sleeve." The Condesce's voice suddenly leapt into their ears, making the both of them jump.

So without further delay, they set off to the sound of bombs and gunshots.


	2. One Life Ends and One Resumes

For the first time in decades, the Helmsman lay down.

Actually lay down.

The cool, crisp sheets of the bed kissed his skin, soft against cells used only to the grip of the tentacles, or the harsh nothing of air.

How cruel that he could not feel it.

In the corner of the room stood her Imperious Condescension, staring down at the body. It was a strange situation. Most believed Her to be a heartless hag, which was true really. But few knew She had a couple of weaknesses. After all, She was a living, conscious being, and so she could not be wholly evil. Just as equally, none were completely good.

Call it affection, love, or perhaps simply the need to feel wanted, whatever it was, the Condesce felt this for the Helmsman.

Each day, once her work was complete, the woman would stalk over to her companion and talk with him for half an hour. Well… talk – to – him was perhaps more accurate; the man barely ever replied. And it was on a vast spread of subjects. Whether it was her

Evidently he listened, however, seeing as he had spilt a couple drops of her secrets to the escaped Group Eight. Or so she assumed.

He had always loved the sound of his own voice, so given a chance to speak to someone other the Condesce, doubtless many things had been discussed.

And now three of Her best had escaped, along with that robot-legged brat, and… and…

Early in the hours of the night, the Helmsman had finally passed on.

And the Condesce hadn't a clue what she was to do now.

It was not as if he had not been in a vegetative state for the past week, so really She should have accepted his death already. But that did not make it any easier.

Pity. She could honestly say she had felt it towards the man, which was twisted enough considering She used him as a living battery, but also taking into account the large step between their blood caste… it would never have happened anyway. Fucking Lima Syndrome.

This death would makes things less complicated. Which would be nice… even if they did have to use a generator for their power, which was far below par the technology She was used to and kept on blanking out at their energy usage.

The Helmsman had given his life to help Group Eight escape! Or more accurately; to help his grandson and the Handmaid escape.

Predictable.

She should have locked the door.

Then the Serket girl would not have wandered into the room and had a chance to plot with him.

That lousy goddamn stupid door.

And, obviously, it would have been the Handmaid, wouldn't it?

It was always about her with him.

Always.

 _Always_.

 **Always**.

Even though she had never returned his feelings, he'd loved her. Even though she told him they could still be friends, and he had _agreed_ , he'd loved her. Even though she went to the trouble of sleeping with that blue-blood just to try and force him to move on… he had loved her.

Despite all these things, he had given up his life for her in creating the massive surge of power that had broken their system for a short time.

Ha! Romance. Life before the landings had been so much simpler.

She then remembered the man she was thinking of was dead, and a strange feeling wormed its way deep inside her core. A restless shuffle in the centre of her ribcage that left her feeling tired and wrong. Just wrong. Very wrong.

Dead red and blue eyes stared up at the ceiling. Too glassy to look real.

The Condesce drew the sheet over the Psiioniic's face and left the room.

* * *

 **== Okay, now for the love of god _tell us about the three year gap_** **!**

Well alright. Who shall we be first?

**== Vriska, I guess**

You are now Vriska Serket, two days after your fight with Terezi… which you lost…

Why… where was everyone?

Why had no one turned up? Why had no one come to wish her a 'get well soon'?

Other than the nurse coming in every so often to check how her legs were doing, Vriska had been left in complete isolation for the past few days.

At least when she had been training with the Condesce she had not been lonely. She was not sure how much more of this she could stand.

There was nothing to do. Nothing to watch, read, or even fiddle with save for the blankets covering her, and she was bored stiff.

Still, though, the Brit had managed to catch up on a whole load of sleep.

But even so, she had asked the nurse if any of the others would be able to visit, and apparently it was allowed in their breaks. Yet no one appeared. Gee wiz, thanks everyone.

The robotics of her arm made no sound as the polished metal slid over itself. That had been the first thing she did once Vriska had found herself with nothing to do. A number of cerulean stains had encrusted themselves into the small gaps between the parts, and so she had spent a good few hours cleaning it to the best of her ability.

Equius was truly a good mechanic. Good, putting it lightly.

Not that she'd ever tell him that… well maybe. Maybe if he came to check on her… but as if that was going to happen. He was probably pissed off with her too at the murder of Aradia.

Ugh!

No.

Vriska was _not_ going to let her mind settle on those that she had killed (and the count was high).

She had done what she had to survive. Nothing more, nothing less.

Hell, if she was a spider or whatever, this kind of behaviour would be completely acceptable, normal even. Female spiders often ate their mates, and then, in turn sacrificed themselves to their offspring so that they may have a better chance in life.

Perhaps… that's what would have happened to Spidermum had Vriska had not stepped up to take the weight of her mother's employment onto her shoulders.

It was tough work. Not so much physically, but mentally. Mentally, it was exhausting and the cerulean-blooded girl had lost countless nights awake and shaking at the deeds she had committed.

But she had to survive, and she did not want to lose her mother, so sacrifices had to made. Only, really, they were not sacrifices on her life so to speak.

And sometimes, they didn't even die. Not when they behaved and sat still.

The stupid wriggled and thrashed, and the needles would stab and jerk and then the blood would tumble out, wasted all over the floor.

The weak died and the strong survived.

Natural selection.

However, enough dwelling on that area of her past. It was at that moment that someone entered the room.

Not a nurse either, but perhaps one of the last people she expected.

Eridan Ampora.

So naturally, she demanded why the hell he was coming in, and he replied in a suitably irritated manner. And when he threatened to beat her up, she played the 'surely you wouldn't beat up someone in hospital who was can't even move their legs'.

The highblood simply called it justice and sneered at her. So as soon as he got close enough she punched him in the gut with her metal arm. In retaliation, he smacked her around the face.

"Still a bitch, huh?"

"What, you think that'd magically disappear somehow?"

"I wwas countin' on the fact that it wwouldn't."

"Well that's lucky then."

Vriska still thought he was a stuck up prick, but hey, if he was going to be the only person to visit her in this shithole then she may as well try to lure him back. Just so she would not get so bored, of course.

Yet the encounter ended with Vriska's back pressed hard against the ground as she shrieked in pain. Their verbal sparring had quickly descended into Eridan dragging Vriska from the bed and attempting to beat some sense into her, yet the sudden jerky movements made the already weak bonds between the newly healed muscle rip open.

He'd only wanted to rough her up a bit, not make her scream in pain on the floor, so he flapped about her like a panicked mother hen until the doctor came in.

"She'll have to get her wounds sewn up again." Dr Kajeor sighed, then sent the boy to Doc Scratch without a further word.

Her muscles were fixed back together, and Eridan did not visit for another few days. But, of course, he returned.

And again, her muscles got bust as she attempted to bunch them up and kick him in the groin.

And again.

And again.

And again.

It was after five months of this that the doctors finally took a stand and banned the boy from entering, and another five months of careful work to get her legs back into order. Yet what with the depth of the cut Terezi had dealt, and all of the reopening of wounds and ripping of the stitches, Vriska's leg muscles were damaged fairly permanently.

The Condesce, in her 'kindness' had given Vriska a dose of permanent nanobots: the kind that would remain in her body for as long as she lived, unlike most that would decompose after a matter of days. However the model she had given the Brit were programmed to be slow acting, a reminder from the fishbitch that she was completely at the older woman's mercy.

When the girl was finally released she was sitting comfortably at the end of her fifteenth year, although the weight of her experiences hung heavy from her shoulders, making her feel much older.

After another month of sparring with Eridan, following pinning him to the ground, Vriska found herself passionately kissing the boy as he yanked at her hair and caressed her spine, as she pressed her fingers down hard onto his neck.

They soon found that this was not an irregular occurrence in their spars. There was… there was just something so _infuriating_ about that pompous asshole that Vriska found herself wanting to teach him a lesson each time she saw him. She wanted to show him that hey, look, someone of a lower caste to you that can kick your butt to the ground daily.

But while – and don't you get her wrong – she certainly hated his guts… she could not deny that he was very attractive. Especially when he stripped to the waist in their sparring sessions, or got that characteristic grimace etched onto his face when she outmanoeuvred him. And there was something immensely satisfying when she got him to make that little mew at the back of his throat. The very thought of it sent a strange brush of _something_ down her spine. He was at his most vulnerable and it was because of _her_. Bet your stupid Feferi never made you make a sound like that.

Though those ridiculously chunky glasses that just fucking screamed hipster looked hideous, and she often grabbed them from him and chucked them across the room. Yet he'd more often than not return the favour and they'd both end up groping about the floor (and occasionally their partner) to find them.

Eridan was the only one from the original twelve to ever visit her over those three years, and as such she both resented him and needed him at the same time for it.

Both took out their frustrations on each other. Eridan, his pining for Feferi while she and Sollux got friendly, and Vriska, her anger at being abandoned. Sometimes it was released by horrid, violent fights, and other times by pressing their bodies close in the dark intimacy of the night, fingernails leaving half moons dotted about the other's back.

As time went on he began to find himself feeling an immense pity for this lonely girl who hid her true emotions behind a wall of cold wall of steel indifference. There was more to her than she let on, but no matter how hard he tried, she never let those walls down. It was clear to him that Vriska would feel nothing more for Eridan really than an ashen hate.

Vriska trained with the Condesce through the day, and Eridan joined her most nights. The tyrian-blood realised that complete social depravation was not good for a teenager, and so allowed him to remain with her.

The Condesce's tutoring was very different to the Handmaid's, and relied far more heavily on the use of manipulation of the foe and being ruthless in terms of how to treat other humans.

Ordinary people, the Condesce explained one day, are nothing more than mere tools to aid you. Their minds are weak and easily malleable. Both the mind and the body had to be weapons for what the Condesce had in mind for her.

The cerulean-blood was to collect information and the like for the woman. A task which often involved seducing, conning, bribing (not that the bribe was ever delivered) or, when it was necessary, forcing information out of the targets with violence. She preferred that route really; it's what she was, well, used to.

And then, a month after her seventeenth birthday, she was sent to recover information from a ball being held by the president of the US. Minimum violence. Target an employee and manipulate them into opening the doors.

It was there where she met a pair of people that she had not seen in three years.

Tavros Nitram and Sollux Captor.

**== What? She didn't meet them once in those three years? I guess that explains the cold attitudes…**

If you wish to be another character from the time skip before we move on, you must enter a name

**== ARG be Aradia**

You are now Aradia Megido a couple of months after the second round of fights

Aradia had noticed something, something that while not terribly interesting to her, was important. Nepeta had also noticed, as had Doc Scratch.

This matter was apparently significant enough for the Doc to send them to the Condesce, who got up from the desk and – after pulling on a pair of thin, latex gloves – instructed the boy to strip to his underwear.

"How… unusual. You appear to be wasting away," commented the woman. "You've been eating all of your meals, I take it?"

"Yes, ma'am." he choked out as she walked two fingers up the prominent ridge of his spine.

"How odd. Darkleer never had such an issue. I hope your physical strength has not deteriorated along with this. Lift me," She ordered, and Equius felt a flush rise up onto his face. An actual highblood was ordering him about, and not a mere purple-blood, but actual royalty, just as it was supposed to be. Oh no, he could feel himself beginning to sweat again. "Are you finding yourself aroused by such an idea? Ugh, teenagers. Fine, lift the desk instead. I do not wish to get your filthy blue sweat on me anyway. But _carefully_. It is vintage from twenty-ten."

It was not a particularly large or heavy desk, and even Sollux would likely have been able to lift it somewhat, yet Equius could not at all. Something was very, very wrong.

His STRENGTH, the very thing that defined who he was had left him.

Within a matter of days, the remains of Group Seven were sent off to a small prosthetics shop in Dubai, as apparently neither of them were of much use to the Condesce. The intense heat made Equius sweat even more than usual, so he rarely left the shop, instead taking refuge in the air-conditioned paradise of his workroom.

Apparently, many of the people that came to the mechanics knew of Nepeta's parents, which had been both nice and upsetting at the same time for the girl.

Their horns had proved to be a massive problem. While the grey skin was relatively easily concealed with a thick foundation, the sensitive organs projecting from their skulls were far harder to hide.

Equius's could be hidden under a tall top hat, which made him lucky in a sense to have a pair of horns that shot straight upwards.

Nepeta took to sewing an extension onto her blue hat that made the horns seem like cat ears. It was a sly thing to do, she decided.

And so in the end they turned out looking like a pair of eccentric young people. Oh well. Better than looking like mutants and being killed.

Aradia was still floating about Equius's body, and did very little other than making the odd comment about her host's day. His chances to speak to her grew, though, without the Condesce's hovering.

Every now and then, he would go for long walks in the desert nearby. Remains of the old city sometimes peeked out from under the sand, and Equius often attempted to salvage something from them. Whether that was Aradia's influence or not had yet to be decided, yet these walks did give him ample opportunity to talk to her without coming off as incredibly odd. That probably helped hold off the insanity that would have gripped his mind otherwise.

For the years that Vriska trained and manipulated and hate-flirted, Equius created robotic limbs. It felt disgusting, at first, to be helping all these… _low bloods_. But then as time when on it felt good. Or at the very least, it was nice to see his designs having such a positive effect for people.

After the first two years, thinking back to Vriska and Tavros's limbs made him near shudder with embarrassment. Their designs were so _crude_! So inefficient. So ugly.

He soon learnt how to improve upon the air-conditioners people used as well, and quickly made a name for himself.

Nepeta, on the other hand, had volunteered into projects to help the clear rubble from the destroyed buildings dotted about. And when she was not doing this, she hunted the strange game located in the desert and earned decent amounts of money from it. Enough so to purchase one of the giant desert cats that roamed the dunes at night. Well, a kitten of one anyway, but it soon grew to be big enough to ride upon.

Then, finally, after three years in this desert city, we get to the present day for our story.

The soul of someone who had once been a friendly French-Korean girl was currently over her host's shoulder, watching as he worked on his mysterious project. A project which he was being very secretive about.

A while ago, Aradia had found a previously unknown part her mind unfolding open, revealing a bounty of information. In this information was a strange bundle of equations and materials that meant nothing to her, but when offered to Equius made a fresh sheen of sweat glisten over his skin.

She guessed that now would be a nice time to be able to read minds… although she was not particularly fussed about finding out. The soul was perfectly okay with not knowing. After having another spirit trapped inside his body twenty-four seven, Equius had the right to a little privacy.

The money he made from the prosthetics were more than enough to pay for the finest materials.

Titanium alloys.

Carbon fibres.

Silicon.

So far it was going well, although he was leaving certain parts of this project until the very end.

For months he had put blood sweat and tears into this piece of work, and now, it was the final touches. He had requested that Aradia tried to avert her eyes for this, to keep it a surprise. She replied that she was okay with that.

This was it.

He'd managed to craft her face from the images he got of her ghostly form. It was good, considering he had never been able to ask her to model, but then he had always had an eye for the arts.

Equius had half-heartedly thought of asking Nepeta to help, as she was by far the better artist but… there was no good way to explain why he was making a life-sized robot of their dead team mate without explaining the whole 'she's fixed her soul to mine' situation. And quite frankly, how in Dickens name do you explain that without ending up in an asylum?

No.

It was best that Equius did this alone, at least until Aradia could inhabit the body and she could do the talking. After all, Equius had never been good with words.

Dipping the brush into a sturdy, blue paint, Equius gave her lips the final coat of 'lipstick' they needed.

Done.

It was perfect.

No, wait.

 _She_ was perfect.

Narrow fingers brushed down the white silicon of her face, pausing at her lips. Oh gods, the texture was perfect, she was perfect. Veins pumping with perfect, blue blood. A perfect body with curves in all of the right places. Perfect, beautiful horns that arched like a ram's.

Speaking of bodies; a body that would not break in his grip…

Equius needed a towel.

Badly.

' _Can I look yet_?' A hollow voice seemed to chime from inside his skull.

"I think… yes."

A figure then materialised beside him, strange and completely alien to the Aradia that he had known when she was alive. Her whole body was quite literally the colour of freshly lain snow, skin, clothes and eyes included, with only the red slash of her lipstick and maroon hair breaking up her form. But that was not the strangest part. No. That was how, in this form, replacing her horns were two strange protrusions that looked almost like… frogs eyes? And once her body reached the waist, rather than a pair of legs she seemed to have acquired a ghost-like tail.

Perhaps that was fitting, seeing as she was just a spirit now.

' _It looks nice_.' commented Aradia, as one might comment on the décor of an acquaintances house – said more out of politeness than any real appreciation.

"Yes," Equius whispered, just in case the prosthetics surgery still had someone inside. "It is perfect in every way."

' _Ribbit_.' she exclaimed.

"Do you," he said, more to himself than her. "have a clean towel anywhere?"

Then, without warning, the ghost charged towards the robot resting on the desk, and a bright flash filled the room.

Once the light had dimmed, Equius brought his arm down from before his eyes and saw exactly what he had been hoping for.

Where the robot had previously been lying down, she was now sat up, long legs dangling off the side of the table as she examined her fingers in great detail. She simply flexed them back and forth for a while, watching them move and feeling the air brush over her synthetic skin, before drumming them on the table a few times, relishing how she could interact with her environment once more. A small, content smile sat on her lips.

He had allowed her a few minutes to get settled into the body. Now he needed to see if a certain, uh, test had worked. Interrupting her thoughts, he said, "I think it suits you. Much more so than the form of a levitating ghostly amphibian."

No reply, or even an acknowledgement of his words.

Equius cleared his throat, then added, "How does it feel?"

"It feels… different!"

It was strange hearing her voice come from anywhere other than his head.

"Ok. But I mean, do you feel anything else?"

"Uh…" She fixed her vivid red gaze upon him, eyebrows very lightly drawn together.

"Any sort of… stirring sensations?"

"Stirring?"

"Yes. Such as, sensations which may be stirred by flowing blood and a beating heart?" Was there any way to put it so that the girl would not be alarmed? He thought it unlikely, but he would try nonetheless… even though this was a sick and disgusting affliction he had.

But she was a blue-blood now, he had made sure of it. There was nothing wrong with his… his feelings at all now. Right?

There was a slight narrowing at the far corner of her eyes: worry? "I'm not sure…"

Okay, he would have to go in for the kill.

"Can you detect anything within you might describe as… smouldering passion," Then, as the narrowing of her eyes began to grow suspicious, quickly added, "I mean, just out of curiosity-"

"Wait," she interrupted. "What _is_ that…"

He could barely keep the anticipation from his voice. "What's what?"

"This feeling… oh god. _Oh my god what did you do_!" she shrieked, a strange metallic screech joining the human sounds. "Did you program this robot to have romantic feelings for you? _ROMANTIC FEELINGS_?"

Busted.

"Hrrrk…"

" _ANSWER ME BLUE BLOOD SCUM_."

The harsh, screeching sounds from the chest area of her body grew louder and more painful to hear as her shouting increased in volume.

"I, yes, uh… it's a chip in your heart. Is that not okay?"

His feigned innocence was met with a stony silence for a few seconds, before she demanded in a low, monotone voice, "Get it out."

"Urrk. I guess I can… uninstall it if you would just-" As he reached towards her chest, she lashed out with her arm, whacking him back.

" _Get it out_!"

"Sorry, I'll, hrrrrrrk."

" _GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT_!"

Like a computer with a virus, her message was repeated over and over and over, the basic sentence never changing in pitch or tone. A broken record.

But Equius was not thinking about this at all. The only thing he had on his mind was the dangerous twitching to her hands and head as she ground her shark-like teeth together. How the words were beginning to run into each other as she splurged out more sentences. That was never a good thing.

Then he could only watch on in horror as the robot plunged her hand into her chest and ripped out the synthetic heart, painting an arc through the air with the bright blue blood that spurted. His blood.

And as if, as if _that were not enough_ , she pounded the heart violently on the desk, crushing it, shattering it, causing little shards of metal and blood to fly about the room. He was pretty certain he was screaming with her at this point, but he could not be certain.

But it was not over.

The now heartless girl stalked over to where he was kneeling on the floor, grabbed him by the front of his vest and hoisted his weak frame up.

 _Smack_! _Smack_! _Smack_!

Her metal hand whacked him around the face, knocking it from facing one direction to the other in her fury.

(Was it wrong of him to feel oddly… aroused by this? By how despite his best efforts he could not escape her grip, even if he had wanted to?)

She stopped briefly to scream obscenities in his face, and then…

And then… grabbed the sides of his now battered and bruised head, and kissed him with as much gusto as a robot who just tore out her heart could, her other hand snaking about his waist so that he could not escape this violent display of affection.

That was the scene Nepeta was greeted to when she went downstairs to check what the strange noises were.

Apparently the surgery was not empty after all.

**== Okay, now be Karkat**

Whoa! Greedy. You will have to wait before you get the rest of the time skip

* * *

**== Be someone escaping**

We have had quite enough of Vriska and the Handmaid's point of view, as well as Tavros's recently so you are now Sollux Captor

It was strange, in his opinion, how quickly Sollux had settled down into a breathing pattern as he ran. Unlike his team mates, the yellow-blood did not use a weapon that required jumping about much, and as such his stamina was much lower than that of theirs.

"There should be an opening to the tunnel system around here… somewhere." Vriska announced, swiping at the coating of sweat on her forehead with the back of a hand. The prolonged exercise combined with the intense sunlight and heat had made them as sweaty as Equius on a bad day. It was disgusting and Sollux found himself pitying the poor guy a little- no wait, not _pity_ pity, just normal 'oh I feel bad for the guy' pity. Pity was the wrong word really…

A couple of years prior, the mutants had been given a brief introduction to the shenanigans that were 'quadrants'.

**== Reminisce**

No fucking way.

Sollux decided against thinking back upon that hideously awkward couple of hours, and instead focused on more important matters. Such as escaping from this hellhole, and the stitch forming in his side.

Shit, the rest of Group Eight were a good few metres ahead of him. Damn it. The repercursions of being a geek that did little exercise.

A shot suddenly buried itself into the sand behind him, throwing an arc of the fine particles into the air.

Great; they were shooting now.

Then, as if to accompany the spray of sand, a huge gust of energy slammed into the ground before him, knocking up a wave of sand-infused air.

Sollux turned towards where the retainment organisation had been before the sand, just for a moment, to see if he could tell where the people with guns were. Yet when he turned his eyes back forwards, Group Eight were nowhere to be seen.

"Tavroth? HM?" he called, swinging his gaze about himself in a wild attempt to find them. "Vrithka? Where are you?"

A strange, invisible grip then plucked him up off the ground and yanked him towards a hole in the sand, pulling him down it a good dozen metres before the light was sealed off. Clanging filled the air as the door to the catacombs were shut; the Handmaid's doing no doubt.

"Do we, uh, leave it to allow others to escape, or, should we seal it, so Doc Scratch and, uhh, his people don't find us?" Even in the pitch black, it was easy to recognise Tavros's meandering voice.

"Seal it. They'll just have to find another way in." With that English accent, the owner of that voice had to be Vriska. "Sollux, will you do us the honours?"

Ah. She wanted to seal up the opening. Well, that was not going to work well for any of them…

"If we do that it'll immediately give away which tunnel we went down." replied Sollux.

"Yeah, but they won't be able to get down it, will they? Besides, there can't be much more than one opening in this place." Vriska argued. "It'll be safer this way. Right, Tavros?"

"Don't, uh, don't bring me into this."

The invisible hand then grabbed the three younger mutants again, and pulled them so they were facing the Handmaid, her face now lit. The glow given off naturally by Sollux's eyes cast a red and blue light onto their features. "They'll be checking all of the tunnels in the area regardless, and given that they cannot sense us underground, it would be smarter not to give them any clues."

So it was decided then. They would not seal it.

The tunnels were significantly colder than the desert above, a fact that was not helped by how their path was only taking them further down. They made sure to not simply walk forwards, as it's what the retainment organisation would expect from a bunch of people escaping: to blindly run forwards in an attempt to get as far away as possible.

No.

Instead, they took the first branch off they could find, then when they found another turn off, went along that tunnel.

Yet since they were relying completely on the glow given off by Sollux's eyes, several errors were made, such as walking into walls, and knocking into the person before you.

It was a good four hours of this light jogging before they dared to stop for a break. Completely out of breath, the four of them sat with their backs against the wall, panting wildly. From one of her many pockets, the Handmaid produced some sort of chewy sweets (slightly squashed, so she'd probably sat on them), followed by a stick of incense.

"Won't they be able to smell that?" Vriska asked around the sweet.

"The Condesce has no sense of smell, aboveground anyway, so she forgets about such a resource and hasn't invested in it at all. She's dumb like that," The Handmaid held the stick before Sollux, and using his optic-blasts, he lit it. "So no, they will not find us based off incense. And just in case they do have those kinda tracking devices, then I've been scattering lit incense around as we ran."

Vriska coughed, wafting the heavily scented cloud from her face the best she could with her hand.

"Great. So you've basically left them a trail to follow us with?"

Sollux found himself frowning. He didn't like to admit it, but Vriska _did_ have a point. It was unlike HM to do something so careless…

"You really think I'm such an idiot?" The Handmaid settled into a cross-legged position before the joss stick. "Lasers, baby, come over here. You're stressed again, you need to relax."

The Handmaid turned back to Vriska as Sollux settled down opposite the woman. "I was flinging them far down the branched off paths we didn't take. No need to get your panties into a twist."

"… and I guess I'm not stressed enough to merit a sit before the incense?" Vriska said with sarcasm imbued speech.

The Handmaid's lips quirked into a rare smirk.

"I guess not."

For a while longer they sat, and with Sollux's eyes closed, the only light they had was from the glowing tip of joss stick.

Running the her tongue heavily along the tips of her thumb and forefinger, the Handmaid then pinched the end of the stick, extinguishing it and plunging them into thick darkness.

The incense and it's holder when back into her pockets.

"Come on, we need to put more distance between us and the fishbitch." Vriska decided as she stood.

"Oh really? What got you to that concluthion?"

Vriska pursed her lips, considered pummelling him, then decided the geek was not worth her time and simply continued down their path, using her fingers to work out where the walls were until Sollux cast some light across the tunnel.

Somewhere in those next half dozen hours of trudging, the Handmaid asked Vriska if she could see at all. The Brit was not sure what answer she was looking for, so brushed it off with a 'what, is night vision something we get now?' which ended the conversation as soon as it had begun.

The first night they spent in the tunnel was quite possibly the worst. It was freezing and dark, at least one of them was a murderer who, potentially, could kill them all in their sleep, and they were all on the run from an organisation that had kidnapped then conditioned them from the tender age of thirteen.

But hey, they were thankful, at least, that it was not damp as well.

Due to the temperature, it was inevitable that they would have to huddle together, reminiscent of the time they spent in the village.

Now a strange added side effect of the differences in blood-colour was how the higher up you got in the hemospectrum, the less warm-blooded you got, although not even the rare tyrian-bloods could be considered properly cold blooded. But that was beside the point.

So while Vriska was very unlikely to get ill and die from this cold temperature, or even have it affect her in a negative and permanent fashion, it would hinder her in if they needed to make a quick dash. It was a commonly known fact that if you wanted to assassinate a high-blood, you got them as cold as possible then went in for the kill… quite literally. The cold made them sluggish and slow-witted until they warmed up.

Ideally, they would have huddled together before they went to sleep, but… there was the fact that both Tavros and Sollux hated Vriska, so that was never going to work; that the Handmaid was not a particularly touchy-feely woman and so decided to sleep on her own; and that Tavros and Sollux, while friends, were not at the level where they could simply snuggle up to one another without it being incredibly awkward. So in the end, they all fell asleep at least a metre apart from one another.

**== Vriska, wake up**

You are now Vriska Serket and, in fact, you were already awake

As the low-bloods slept for a while longer, Vriska sat with one leg stretched before her, her fingers massaging the muscles on her calves until they felt less stiff. She then commenced this same process on her other leg.

Tucked away in her pocket was a tube of salve that helped spur on the lethargic nanobots. Ordinarily, she would apply this to her legs to speed up the loosening of her sore muscles, but she could not risk the rest of her group realising that Terezi's actions had affected her so badly. Besides, she couldn't see a thing.

As if she had not been punished enough for the murder of Aradia Megido.

There. Her legs were ready and stretched. Just in time too, as the rest of Group Eight were waking, all groggy and disorientated.

Another sweet each from the Handmaid, and then back to trudging about in the dark.

It was cold and Vriska hated it. At one point, she was unfortunate enough to find her hand brush past Tavros's, and had she been just a little more desperate, may well have grabbed him just to leech some of his body heat.

Lousy goddamn stupid lowbloods with their quick metabolisms and warm skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I was an idiot and didn't realise you could copy in text with formatting on it :')  
> Here is the next chapter anyway! :D I'll try to upload a new one twice a week or so.


	3. Alternate-Dave

**== > Can we be Karkat _now_** **?**

You are now Karkat Vantas, except you are not _now_ him, rather you are the Karkat of three years ago. A Karkat that just witnessed the brutal murder of Aradia Megido.

To be entirely honest, Karkat had no intension of hunting down Vriska. Nope. No thanks. None of that please.

That spiderbitch, she could control minds or something, right? That was something that the mutant wanted _none_ of. His mind was private thanks… there were certain secrets that he did not want her to see.

At first he was furious with her. Not because he had been particularly close to Aradia, but because Vriska had simply taken it upon herself to kill someone out of the blue. Who did that?

It turned out that he had little to worry about on the Vriska front though, as she was moved to a different section of the facility with her timetables flipped. Rumour was that this had been done to prevent harm to the girl, as she was too precious to the Condesce to risk loosing… but being precious to such a woman was hardly a good thing really.

But it had to be said that Karkat respected the Condesce greatly. Sure, she was a homicidal fish lady with highly questionable morals and even more questionable motives, but wow, look at what she had managed to achieve! It was a sign of great leadership at the very least.

But Karkat had more important things to be doing than pondering how good the water-bitch's leadership skills were; such as not getting sliced even _once_ by Terezi's wicked blade.

The Condesce may have a use for his mutant blood, but he doubted his team mates would be so forgiving. In fact, he could go so far as to say that once the Condesce's use for him was through, he would be culled.

Positive thinking!

Fuck off.

The three years had been hell for Karkat… in some ways.

Mainly, he'd had to train and train and train with his stupidly picked sickle until he could duel Terezi for dozens of minutes on end, a lot harder than it sounded; could strike to kill, fatally injure, wound or stun an attacker; and could practically fight blindfolded (okay that was an exaggeration, but still). Much to his pleasure, this had meant he had almost lost his puppy fat now, _almost_ being the keyword as his tummy was still just a little podgy. But fuck, now was not the time to be angsting over appearances.

Since Terezi had technically gotten first place in the fights the Condesce had staged, their group were often used for the recovery of important people and items, with the blind-girl as team leader. It was fun and kept their minds stimulated, a good sight better than Group Ten, who were stuck inside the facility all day.

Although… it did result in injuries. Of course, most were quickly healed, leaving barely a trace, but now and then the wounds were more serious, but really he was lucky to even be alive considering his mutation.

In most cases a mutant would live until sixteen at most, for it was then when the original colour of a child's eyes would have their blood colour seep into them.

In a way, Karkat had cheated death, if only for a little while.

As for Terezi, she had only grown more cunning and swift as time went on. She was able to route out entire situations in her mind based off a single decision, and more often than not they were correct. All in all, Terezi was a handy woman to have as team leader.

One thing that had changed for the worse, though, was the size of Gamzee. Initially, they had simply thought he was getting chubby, and he was a while, but then he shot up and up and up until he was a good eight foot tall, even higher up than the Handmaid.

The Condesce often had uses for him that the other two were not told of.

And honestly, they would not want to know.

* * *

**== > How is the fish princess doing?**

You are now Feferi Peixes

Placing second last in the fights had proved to have more of an effect than they had initially imagined. But unlike Group Seven, who were deported, Group Ten had to stay inside the building. All day every day. In fact, not one of them had left the retainment organisation in the three years that had passed.

It was horrid. The three of them were near insane at the lack of contact with the world, and the best they had was the occasional trips to the training room with a skylight.

Even the three themselves had no idea what they were supposed to be doing. They had been split into Kanaya, then Eridan and Feferi, with the two sub-groups doing different activities, but still working as an overall group.

Most days, it involved a lot of diving in the Condesce's pool.

It could easily be over two miles wide at the surface, and as for the depth, Feferi had swam what felt like miles down without reaching the bottom. Perhaps it was made on a fracture in the earth's crust… although she did not know of any fault lines in New Mexico. An underwater lake? Maybe.

There were submerged sections of cities in the water, meaning that the two mutants with gills had swum through supermarkets and skyscrapers many a time. Abandoned trolleys with packaged goods still in and semi-decomposed children's toys were found in many places, but there were no people. If this was a city that just sunk without warning, then the Condesce must have removed all the bodies.

Not that Group Ten knew of the Condesce. Like most of the twelve, they still believed that Doc Scratch was the head honcho.

Kanaya would wait at the surface, somewhere above them in a boat and send them instructions for what they were to find that day. It could be anything from a spoon with certain letters carved onto it, to a decayed recipe book. The item's location would show up on the radar, and after dropping them off in the general area, the divers would be guided over to it via microphones.

It kept them occupied, sure. But they still longed for fresh air, to feel the wind across their faces, and the tingle of sunlight on their skin.

It was said to them constantly, though, that their jobs would become incredibly valuable in time, more so than those of Group Eight or Nine's. That kept them going at least.

It was known to all of the remaining twelve that Eridan and Vriska had a thing going. Eridan could not keep his mouth shut about it.

After the infamous talk on quadrants, they narrowed it down to being a kismesis, and since it was the first of the group, and the first that any of the mutants had ever seen, gossip was something they all enjoyed. Karkat and Eridan were known to discuss the relationship at great lengths since they were both into such gossip.

It was also suggested amongst hastily halted whispers, that the reason Eridan was so angry all the time, was because Feferi had been neglecting her attention on him for Sollux.

And _that_ was a completely different kettle of fish.

Something about the geek seemed to bring out the best in her. Although he had his fair share of doom and gloom moments, his general demeanour was of the teasing variety, and after putting up with Eridan's near suffocating cloud of pessimism it was like fresh air to her lungs. Or rather the next best thing since she still could not go outside.

And though she would deny it, it had to be said that whenever he came back from one of his trips to the outside world, that outdoors-y smell that clung to his body was a fucking massive turn on.

It started out with innocent brushing of fingers as they sat beside each other at meals, which soon led to holding hands, hidden under the safety of the table. And then, when she had gathered enough confidence that he returned her feelings, a hilariously awkward first kiss when all the other mutants in their block had crawled into the pods. Their noses knocked and his fingers accidentally jabbed into her gills, effectively cutting it off because _ow_. But Feferi regretted nothing.

They still had yet to make their relationship public, however.

And then there was Kanaya. Her crush on Vriska had been abruptly terminated at her murder of Aradia, but realising the conversation Vriska had had with her a bit before the death was on whether she should kill the girl or not, a strange feeling filled her. While Kanaya was certainly disgusted at the Brit's actions… at the same time she deeply pitied the girl for doing what she thought had been the right thing to do.

Ugh, emotions.

But if anything, the frustration created by this initially helped her channel some aggression into her fighting. Over time, her crush on the Serket girl lessened and her fighting improved.

She was now a weapon.

A few days ago, there had been a black out that lasted a good ten minutes, never a good thing when almost all of the building is subterranean. Only the emergency light strips were working, their chemical glow giving off an eerie light to the facility.

All that remained of the original twelve were instructed to return to the dining hall, and the pickings were fairly meagre. The whole of Feferi's group were there, as well as Terezi's and then… that was it?

Nepeta's group had left over a year ago, not long after Aradia had died. It had been so strange… Equius had simply begun to wither, almost. Maybe he had gotten better, maybe not. They had not seen the two of them since, and only Terezi had seemed upset by it, by the loss of Nepeta; the two of them had become close friends through role-play over messenger.

Vriska, well, it was expected that she was not there. But where were Sollux and Tavros? And the Handmaid for that matter… They waited for a further five minutes in case the three of them had gotten lost in the darkness, but they never came.

The remaining six were registered, then ordered to go to their sleeping pods for containment, just in case a plan had been formed between them.

The next day they still had not returned. Nor the next.

"So Tavros didn't mention anyfin?"

"No, sorry. I take it Sollux didn't either?" said Kanaya, accompanied with a shake of her head.

Feferi looked irritated at the question.

"I just… I thought if he was planning to take off, he would tell me at least. But I guess not?" the girl frowned at the wall opposite. "Unless this is some weird stunt being pulled by Doc Scratch…"

Kanaya said nothing. It was unlikely that the disappearance of Sollux, Tavros and the Handmaid was a ruse, but it was equally unlikely that they had managed to escape, if not more so.

"Wris has taken off somewwhere." snarled Eridan as he sat beside Feferi. "Fuckin' bitch."

Shooting a quick, worried glance at Feferi, Kanaya said, "I'm sure they will be back soon."

They were not.

CA: i thought wwe had somethin you know

CA: like shed tell me if she wwas gonna go wwaltzin off

CA: its not fuckin fair

CC: glub glub glub 38(

CA: come on be serious for once

CC: I AM being serious!

CA: oh

CA: wwell its kinda hard to tell wwhen youre throwin those glubs evverywwhere

CC: 38/

CC: Well I'm sorry MIST-ER but you s)(ould be used to it now.

CA: ugh sorry fef im just annoyed

CA: like i dunno

CA: shes been startin to ignore me more for a wwhile noww actually

CC: O)( Eridan… 38(

CC: Well clearly s)(e )(ad -EV-EN MOR-E PROBL-EMS t)(an we realised at first!

CC: Anyone would be lucky to )(ave a kismesis as diabolical as you, especially T)(AT one.

CA: ehhh

CA: wwell okay thanks for sayin so

CA: but like i still don't get wwhy shed just leavve like that

CA: thats not howw kismesis wwork like i knoww wwere supposed to antagonise each other an stuff

CA: but at the end of the day i dunno like wwere still supposed to be there you knoww

CC: Um?

CC: )(onestly, I wouldn't really know.

CC: I've never really felt t)(at way for anyone… maybe I'm too )(uman still! 38p

CA: shrug

CC: But I mean, your feelings for )(er really ran dark?

CA: it doesnt evven matter

CA: like i said shes been startin to ignore me for a wwhile

Feferi huffed at the ceiling. It was almost as if he did not even want to see the bright side of things. Fucking drama queen. Fair enough, Vriska had been a downright bitch to him, but really, she did that to almost everyone, and well, that's what kismesis were for weren't they? Ugh, okay fine, she did not have a clue, but she would prefer it if he did not treat her like she was dumb.

A small smirk appeared on her face as she considered another option. This ought to lighten him up a bit!

CC: But didn't you, um, visit )(er every nig)(t?

CA: oh god

CC: To me t)(at sounds like you maybe )(ad… )(m…

CC: Somefin R-EDD-ER MAYB-E?

CA: no

CC: 38)

CA: no stop that

CC 3 8) 38) 3 8)

CA: wwhats that evven supposed to be

CC: Eyebrow waggling, I )(ad to improvise.

CA: ug)( i don't evven know

CA: like sometimes maybe i did feel kinda redder for her maybe

Jackpot.

CC: But?

CA: but what

CC: I've known you for ages, Eridan. I can tell w)(en t)(ere's more to your story!

CA: oh god

CC: So w)(o IS IT t)(at you're feeling red for then?

CC: NO CLAMMING UP!

CA: i really don't wwant to talk about it

CC: Tell me! 38D

CA: okay fef

CA: this is NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS

CC: 38o

CC: Okay S)(-E-ESH Mr Grumpy-Gills!

CC: Just trying to c)(eer you up. 38(

CA: okay really not the time

CC: Well okay maybe not, but you're not t)(e only one missing people.

CA: since wwhen wwere you friends with tavv

CC: W)(at?

On another window, Eridan read over the angry grey words pouring in and tried his best to reason against them.

CG: DUDE JUST FUCKING TELL HER ALREADY.

CG: I MEAN SHE'S LITERALLY IN THE OTHER WINDOW RIGHT NOW TALKING ABOUT WHO YOU FEEL RED FOR.

CG: IS THERE LESS OF A PERFECT TIME TO TELL HER?

CG: YEAH, I DON'T THINK SO.

CA: i knoww i knoww kar

CA: its just wwhat if she doesnt like me like that

CA: that wwould literally ruin evverythin

CA: and also wwevve kinda movved on noww

CG: OKAY, WELL

CG: I GET THAT, I HEAR YOU MAN

CG: BUT WHAT IF THIS OPPORTUNITY DOESN'T POP UP AGAIN?

CG: YOU'RE JUST GONNA HAVE TO WATCH HER WALTZ OFF WITH SOME OTHER DOUCHEBAG. IS THAT YOU WANT?

CA: wwell obvviously not

CA: but seriously I just dont wwanna ruin this

CA: like id rather be her friend that some jerk she feels too awwkwward to be around

CG: WELL YEAH, BUT SERIOUSLY YOU COULD MISS YOUR CHANCE HERE.

CA: ugh FINE

CA: im just reelly nervvous okay

CA: wwhoops fuckin fish puns

CC: YOU'LL BE FINE, BRO.

He switched windows.

CC: W)(hy do you assume it's Tavros?

CC: I mean )(e's really sweet but I didn't reely speak to )(im T)(AT muc)(.

CA: well obvviously it wwasnt tavv do you think im fuckin dumb

CC: SIGH.

CC: I R-E-ELLY )(ope you're not angling for anot)(er jealousy rant, Eridan.

CA: i don't evven wwanna talk about that fuckin drama machine

CC: 38I

CA: fef

CC: mmm?

CA: okay so you knoww howw tavv vvris and sol just kinda disappeared

CA: uh wwell im kinda wworried that uh one of us could go missin

Wait. Fuck. Where was this going? The girl was getting a bad feeling about this…

CC: Well it's not like t)(ey went missing or anyfin.

CC: T)(ey ran away… 38T

CA: you knoww wwhat i mean

CA: like wwhat if doc just karts one of us off one day wwithout another wword

CA: and okay basically ivve just spent all this time here wworryin and thinkin about stuff

CA: and i decided i have something i wwant to tell you

Fuck he really was going to go for it wasn't he? Oh god this was going to be a mess, ugh. If he had done this sooner then maybe she would have still had such feelings for his sorry ass, but Feferi had abandoned such thoughts three years ago.

Besides, she was still going to stand by the fact that it could (and probably would) ruin their friendship. Relationships very rarely lasted forever, especially one made at the age of seventeen, and so realistically they would break up and it would be hideously awkward for eternity, especially when taking into account how long they would both live.

And of course, such thoughts drew her mind to a certain low-blood but damn it she was not in the mood for depressing thoughts like that.

CC: O)(, really?

CC: T)(at's good! Actually, I )(ave somet)(ing I )(ave been meaning to say to you too.

CA: wwhoa really

CA: uh

CA: wwhat is it

CA: you go first

CC: Okay.

CC: But t)(is isn't easy to say!

CA: yeah i knoww

CA: its okay maybe I wwill understand more than you think

CA: wwe might evven be sayin the same thing

CC: Okay, I )(ope so.

Liar.

Feferi found herself reverting to playing along with him to keep Eridan happy, exactly what she promised herself she would stop doing. Enough of trying to please him all the time. This was her life.

But fuck was it painful.

CC: Well, um, okay I t)(ink we s)(ould see less of eac)( ot)(er

CC: I mean, now t)(at we've grown up a bit more, I just t)(ink t)(at maybe we're not so perfect for eac)( ot)(er as we t)(oug)(t we were.

CC: )(onestly, sometimes I find you really infuriating and I'm sure it's mutual.

CA: wwhoa

CA: wwait

CA: wwhat

CC: I am really sorry, -Eridan. It )(as just been so )(ard looking after you and keeping you out of trouble!

CC: It )(as taken its toll, and )(onestly I am really ex)(austed.

CC: I'm tired, -Eridan, and I need to t)(ink about myself.

CA: fuck

CA: this isnt what

CA: i dont knoww i wwasnt expectin this at all

CA: im not sure i can handle this

CC: I'm sorry!

Liar.

CC: It will be t)(e best for bot)( of us. We can just sort of be… regular friends instead.

CA: no

CA: please don't

CA: look im bein serious here dont do this

CA: i wont even use my weird accent while i type ok so you know im bein really dead serious and honest about this

CC: Uh… okay, I am being serious and honest too. SEE?

CA: are you sure you arent being hasty about this

CA: i mean weve known each other like all our lives

CA: you cant just throw that all away because youre sick of me

CC: I am not sick of you, Eridan! I still really like you.

CC: But… I just can't be around you all the time, it's making me stressed and I just…

CC: I can't look after you anymore.

CA: I DIDN'T EVER NEED ANYONE TO LOOK AFTER ME

CA: i was totally fuckin fine

CA: and the only reason i put up with stickin my finger in this fuckin shithole friendzone with you was

CC: Was what?

What a fucking stupid question.

CA: nevermind

CC: Tell me!

CA: ok fine

CA: i apologize for losin my shit over this I was just caught off guard is all

CA: i just

CA: ive maybe been feeling something more…

CA: well red for you

CA: and i was thinkin if maybe youve thought of something like that

CC: No, I hadn't thought about it!

CA: ok well now that you are thinkin about it

CC: Um… I really don't know about that.

CA: why not i thought you said you liked me

CC: Eridan, listen I really do like you! We've been friends for nearly eighteen years now.

CC: But like I said, you're draining to be around now and I just can't do it.

CC: It's taken all my energy and I don't think I have anything left for those feelings.

CA: oh god

CA: im the biggest fuckin idiot who ever lived

CA: i cant BELIEVE I opened up to you like a chump when I shouldve knew what was comin

CA: i am one sad fuckin brinesucker

CA: overemotional sappy trash youre right im not better than anybody

CA: im worse than anybody

CA: EVERYBODY

CA: all the bodies

CC: STOP!

CC: God, just shut the fuck up.

CC: For once if your life.

CC: This is exactly what I'm talking about! You go completely overboard with your emotions, always looking to reel in drama wherever you can.

CC: I am fed up! I can't summon the strength anemonemore.

CC: Just please, grow up a little and get over yourself, because otherwise you're just going to end up a lonely old man with no one to blame but yourself.

CC: I can't be bothered to be your punching bag for whenever things go wrong for you. I have feelings too!

CC: Ugh! I've been so stressed the past year because of you and I don't deserve it. So I'm going to be selfish.

CA: I'm fucking done here.

CC: BY-E!

CA: wwait

CA: dont go

cuttlefishCuller [CC] ceased trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]

CA: glub

* * *

**== > Be Jade**

You are now Jade Harley, on the front lines of a war against people you don't really want to be fighting against.

To her left, she could hear the pale mutants ripping into the opposing forces, a sickening noise that she could have quite happily done without. To her right stood Dave, awkwardly fiddling with the hilt of his knife.

Many mutants were already fighting, and a good portion of them had horrific powers. For example, one young man was stood at the centre of a brawl that consisted of people fighting other people. Mind control…? No, that was stupid, that does not even exist! But then after seeing the Handmaid's telekinesis…

The pale mutants, rainbow-drinkers she believed, were using little more than either a gun or knife and their own teeth to take down people.

But some of the strangest contraptions were the humanoid creatures that were ripping through the battlefields. Their bodies were segmented and insect-like, with their fingers ending in horridly sharp points. And if you actually managed to get through the thick exoskeleton that covered their entire body and kill the creature, three more would appear.

They had initially horrified Jade, as they would anyone, but as time went on she began to notice things that seemed off. There, a smaller creature with one of its arms loped off was being comforted by another, and behind a tent, one was curled up into a tight ball, muttering to itself in a strange, whistling language.

It seemed impossible for the retainment organisation to even have a snowball's chance in hell at defeating the rest of the world, even with all the carapaces, but somehow… they were? Yet the fighting was still taking too long, in the Condesce's opinion, so she had flown north with the promise of the activation of 'plan b'. Jade hadn't a clue what that meant, but she doubted it was good.

After reporting to the woman in charge of this area, they were sent into a small underground shelter, which they were told would take them further along into the battlefield. Inside, a number of soldiers sat, both mutants and human. It did not seem as if they were doing anything.

A few looked up at their arrival, but that was all the acknowledgement they gave.

At the far end of the room was a gap in the metal, and through this, a tunnel. Jade guessed this was where they were meant to go.

"This leads you further in… right?" she asked, her voice quiet and hesitant. A mutant nodded.

The pair stood in the safety of the shelter for a little while longer, listening to the bullets and screaming in the distance.

"Go on…" the Condesce crooned via their earpieces, having grown impatient of waiting. Well then, no more delaying.

"Come on, Dave."

Unlike the harshly lit shelter, the tunnels were lacking in LEDs, and so void of any light. With one hand, Jade felt the walls as to discern where the path was, not dissimilar to another young lady not so long ago. The girl's other hand was tightly clutching Dave's, leading him along behind her; she had noticed him beginning to tremble a little before entering the tunnel, and so thought it may help a little.

"I-," Jade began, but her voice had gone horrid and croaky, so she gave her throat a quick clear before trying again. "I bet you can't see anything with those shades on."

"Not really."

The speakers in their helmets were now activated, so the microphones could easily pick up what one was saying and convey it to the other, no matter what the distance between them was.

But it was not needed at this current moment in time, as neither could think of anything to say.

As they continued down the tunnel, their external microphones began to pick up a strange scratching noise from the stretch in front of them.

"It's probably those bug things finishing off the tunnel." decided Jade, more to reassure herself than Dave. He nodded nonetheless.

They stopped again, pausing for a while. Once they were done with this tunnel they would be on the actual battlefield.

Neither wanted to admit it, but there was the very real fact that one or both of them could die.

This was not a video game. There were no extra lives.

If they died out here, they were dead. For ever.

"If you are stopping to have a heartfelt confession in case one of you does not return, make it snappy."

What? It was not even like that.

Eyes narrowed with embarrassment, they continued, both put off by the Condesce.

At the end of the tunnel, a light shone down from the ceiling, illuminating the two carapaces that stood at the end in an eerie fashion. One pointed upwards, indicating the exit. It was the end of the line.

A strange clicking sound came from the darker carapace, as if it was trying to talk to Dave. Unable to think of anything more appropriate, the boy stuck his thumbs up at the creature.

"Good luck, Harley."

"You too, coolkid." And with that, Jade scrambled up the walls of the tunnel and into the harsh sunlight of the desert.

Gunfire exploded around them, and while most bullets bounced near-harmlessly off the body armour, one managed to create a nick on Jade's visor.

"Fuck!"

Was she supposed to drop to the ground at this point, or would that just mean she would find it harder to move and so an easier target… but then less available surface area to shoot, but if she was not moving then it would be easier in a different way to hit her… oh for god's sake! Jade had not even had proper contact with another human being for years on end, and now she was expected to figure out how their minds would work?

This was stupid. And deadly. Mainly deadly.

Having this particular battlefield in the middle of a desert meant that there was very little in the way of cover. For miles and miles around them, all they could see was the battle. The humans on their side, the humans on the other side, the carapaces, the mutants and the deaths all under the blazing midday sun.

Then suddenly a strange sound began to fill the air next to her… a scratching almost?

"Can you hear that, Dave?"

"What, the explosions?"

"No, like a kind of vwocha vwotcha vwotch. Can you hear it now?" she mimed with little scratching motions in the air.

Dave cocked his head, the visor of his helmet indicating that he was staring into the distance.

"Dunno, it sounds like you were making a kind of turntable noise, which would be the stupidest thing I ever heard get said since we're in the middle of a fucking battle…" the boy replied, his smirk hidden behind the visor.

Then a ' _Dave_!' was shrieked as Jade pressed down on his head, forcing him into a crouch and shot down someone trying to ambush them. The enemy dropped down to the ground. Dead.

Jade was unperturbed, she had shot people before. It was not preferable but sometimes the need to act quickly and take out someone else before they took out part of you took over. Fight or flight essentially, since if Dave, one of her very closest friends, was taken out she would not know what she would do.

The scratching noise was getting louder, and with the added bonus of more people crowding around the two of them since they had now killed, Jade was getting very stressed.

They had ducked behind a pile made from bomb debris and a body for cover, shooting out from over the top of it when the dust cloud cleared a little.

Scritch scritch scratch scriitch scratch.

"Who has the time to lay out some strict beats now?" Dave pondered, occasionally shooting out blindly into the space before them.

 _Scratch_ _scratch vwotcha vwot vwot_.

"Having a your own soundtrack is surprisingly annoying actually!" Jade snarled around the sound of her gun blasts. "Fucks sake, stop moving!"

"Yeah they'll be moving so they don't get killed. I dunno, people do that kind of shit now and again." Dave said, casting a worried look at the girl.

 _Scratchhh vwot vwottta vwtoch scritch_.

It was at this moment in time that something relatively expected though still surprising happened, and another thing that was incredibly strange.

A member of the opposing side suddenly appeared, gun ready to shoot Jade in the cracks of her visor, then in the face through the shattered glass. This would have worked had someone else not appeared before them.

This figure, dressed in a dirty, white tuxedo with horrid sunburn just… well, _materialised_ in the path of the bullet.

And they took it.

And they slumped back, falling onto Jade.

It was a strange, blond haired man by the looks of it, but the hair was covering his face. Since Jade's arms were pinned down by the body, Dave quickly shot the attacker, wincing at every kick back of the gun. They were soon disposed of.

But who was this man? The girl noticed how the scritch-scratching had stopped now. Could these two things be related? Probably.

He was still breathing, although the inhalations were shaky and shallow. Since the attacker had been aiming at a crouching Jade, he had aimed relatively low, so the bullet had caught the man in his stomach.

"Hey, Harley?" he rasped. "You still alive?"

Both the younger humans froze.

No, it couldn't be…

Dave reached out, and with a few fingers he brushed the hair from the man's face… and then after a few seconds of staring, simply disappeared.

" _Dave_?" she shrieked, staring at where he had been a moment ago. " _Dave_?"

"Yeah?"

No… wait… so, so it really was?

Jade looked down at the face on her lap. But no, it really could not be… surely not. But the resemblance was pretty striking…

This Dave, if it was a Dave, looked a little older… yeah, he was definitely a year or two above them; his eyes were a deep, vivid maroon.

As she had noticed earlier, a horrid peeling sunburn covered most of his exposed skin. Combining this with the filthy tuxedo and matted, shoulder-length hair would suggest that this Dave had spent a fair amount of time wandering a sunny place for days and days on end.

"No, I meant the, the other Dave, um… my Dave." she stammered. At the 'my Dave', his expression soured a little, yet he was still looking up at her with an incredibly surprised look.

"Sorry," he chuckled. "But it's really weird seeing you again… well I mean hear you again anyway."

Huh. She had forgotten about the full body armour she was wearing.

And then he sort of slumped a little more against her, eyes semi-shut.

Shit.

Another shot bounced off her visor, and she snapped.

There was a fucking _dead alternate Dave_ on her lap, and people were still fucking _shooting_ at her?

She was being unreasonable, sure, but it put her right into the Condesce's plan so from that front this whole endeavour was a success.

A strange green crackling filled the air around her and then, as swiftly as Dave had disappeared, so did she.

The place where she reappeared was warm and mild, nothing like the intense heat of the desert. Beneath them was cool grass that felt delicious on alternate-Dave's burnt skin.

Being confused, Jade simply lay on the ground for a while, staring up at the empty sky with the weight of a body on her chest.

Many clouds drifted by before she found herself able to sit up. This new Dave slumped off her, hitting the ground face first. She did not notice this.

This was her island. Her. _Island_.

Her island? But how? She was in a desert and now… she was not? And as _if_ this were not enough, almost all of her island was now underwater, with only the uppermost reaches of her greenhouses high and dry. Had there been flooding since she was taken by the Condesce? There was no other explanation.

But still, as someone who had just been through an insane amount of shit would, Jade began to sob. Her house was ruined now, so even if she was able to return one day from the retainment organisation, she had nowhere to go.

All of her stuff, and all of Grandpa Harley's quirky things… they were doubtless destroyed and that was that. But maybe… maybe if she could just swim to that top part of her house…

Standing up, she shaded her eyes with a hand to get a better look at the damage. Wait… the sea had not risen by such a crazy amount, but rather the wave that had doubtlessly come to bring the water had snapped her tower into many pieces and scattered them about.

Jade gave a sigh of relief at this discovery. While it was worse for her house (it was ruined anyway so what did it matter), it meant that the earth as a whole was in a much better state. And that's what was important in the end, right? Right?

Ugh, she was not in the mood for morals, and it meant for certain that all those plants she had been nurturing for years on end were dead.

Alternate-Dave was still face down in the grass from where the Islander had left him. Was he actually dead though? She had simply flipped her shit when he stopped moving and not bothered to check.

Rolling him into his back, she checked for a pulse, and found one (though it was fairly pathetic as a pulse went), then from this tried to rouse him, but it seemed like the sod was out for the count. Fair enough since he had just been shot in the gut.

She tried applying some sort of press to the wound, but Jade had only seen such procedures performed on movies so in reality she was probably making no difference.

"Dave? Are you still there?" she asked, continuing to put pressure on the bullet hole. No response. "Okay well basically, this is what's going on. We teleported or something from the battlefield and ended up somewhere on my island. Um, there's been a huge flood and… and my house is ruined."

Covering her mouth with her hand, she sobbed a little more, for there was no one to hear her, and then curled up in a tight ball as she watched the sun travel across the sky. Dave was bleeding to death and there was nothing she could do. She had never before felt so useless.

After another few minutes of this, she found herself suddenly falling asleep – a result of the energy needed to transport herself. When she awoke a helicopter was waiting at the end of the land they were on.

"We've been looking all over for you, Harley." said the Condesce. "When you teleported you literally left this planet, or dimension perhaps, because you did not reappear until several hours later on our radar."

A strange roaring sound began to be audible.

"Ah, right on time. If you do not come with me then you will perish in the oncoming tsunami."

Jade sat up quickly and stared into the distance. Well fuck, there were more.

With a cold smirk, the Condesce explained, "You see, there was a still a chance the opposing side could win so I took it upon myself to cause a little flooding. Just to ruffle some feathers, stack the odds in my favour a little more."

"What?" Jade asked.

"Well, the ice-caps were on the verge of melting fully anyway, I simply helped them along a little. Anyway, quickly now, in. Now that you can use your power you are useful to me. And we'll save that scrap's life as well since clearly he aided you in your teleportation."

"What?" the girl repeated.

"We can talk more on the ride there. In!"

And favouring her chances more with the Condesce, Jade climbed into the helicopter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one took a while! Forgot to update ngl haha, just finished a placement so it's been busy :')


	4. Tunnels and trackers

On the third day travelling through the caves, Sollux collapsed, shortly followed by Vriska.

Between them, the Handmaid and Tavros figured that it was due to the lack of food and water, and the long distances they were having to walk. Though it probably didn't need both of them to crack that mystery. Why Tavros had not collapsed was put down to the fact that he had robotic legs, which probably helped lessen the amount of energy he was expending. As for the Handmaid, well, she simply claimed that she had been through worse. Tavros did not want to argue with that.

"Here, take Sollux. He's lighter," the Handmaid said as she hefted Vriska up into a piggyback ride. "Huh, like a sack of potatoes."

"Couldn't you, uhh, just lift us all, with your telekinesis?" asked Tavros.

The woman raised an eyebrow at him. "No."

At the tunnel's first change in direction, both conscious members of the party walked straight into the wall. Without Sollux's light they were completely blind, and due to the people being carried on their backs they were unable to feel along the walls. Well then…

Above them they could hear a distant rumbling sound: the war. The Handmaid had a good idea what was going on and so informed Tavros.

It was strange for him, or indeed anyone, to think about how there were people loosing their lives above them, and how there were villages being destroyed, skyscrapers tumbling and crashing to the ground…

"I'm guessing she'll be flooding the surface soon." the woman commented casually at one point.

They marched on through the darkness for a good while longer before Sollux and Vriska actually owned up to being awake.

As before, the Handmaid gave them a chewy sweet and then expected them to continue as usual.

"Stop! I need to sit down a bit longer," Vriska said after her legs collapsed under her weight. "I'm too tired, we've literally been walking miles for days on nothing but fucking sweets. And I'm thiiiiiiiirsty."

It startled them a little, for Vriska was not one for admitting her weaknesses.

"Well I'm sorry, your highness, but that's all you're going to get," replied the Handmaid, uncertain on how to reply. "We can't go to the surface, it's a war zone up there, so the best we can do is just to keep on waltzing down these tunnels 'til we find a bunker or food store."

"And the chances of finding one of those?"

The Handmaid considered borrowing the Condesce's idea of slapping Vriska when she got too cocky, but then again Vriska was seventeen now, and so that was probably not the best route to take anymore.

"We haven't seen one yet, though it could have slipped us. Basically, we should see one pretty soon."

"If you want, I could, uh, scout ahead, or something?" Tavros offered, though was quickly shot down.

"No. Not only is it pitch black out there, so you wouldn't be able to see a thing anyway, but we shouldn't split up. It's too easy to get lost and separated. That's the last thing we need."

They waited just long enough for Vriska to recover, and then set off.

To everyone's surprise, after an hour they found a small door hidden in the side of the wall. It was Sollux who found it thanks to the light emitted from his optic blasts. After spotting the thin outline of the door, they managed to locate a handle and pried it open.

Inside, food! And at the back a small sink. Water? Hopefully. Sollux was almost one hundred percent certain that people could not go more than three days without water.

A clink filled the dusty space as Vriska sifted through the jars on the shelving units. She sneered as soon as she managed to get a good look at the contents, then picked one up.

"More sauerkraut, great."

"At leatht ith not corned beef." replied Sollux with a shrug.

It was at this point that the Handmaid made a satisfied little noise, soon followed by, "I found a torch."

Wrapping a small bit of cloth around the end, she then switched it on. Their eyes had been so used to the meagre light from Sollux that the bright LEDs would be immensely uncomfortable. And even then, when the torch was switched on they all groaned and covered their eyes.

Once they had gotten over the shock of light, they got to work sifting through the food reserves. A good deal of the shelves were bare, suggesting that they were not the first to find this place. In a corner were sealed bags of blankets and gas masks. Clearly someone had gone to town down here.

"Jarth thould be fine, right?"

The Handmaid shrugged, "Tins are best for preserving food, but jars should work. Just taste it before you dive in."

"I'm not four." Sollux replied irritably.

Much of the food was spoilt due to the length of time it had been sitting there, however they did manage to salvage a couple tins of thick lentil soup. In a sudden burst of anxiety to eat the meal properly, Vriska snapped off pieces of the wooden shelves and made a small pile in the middle of the room.

Following an expectant head gesture, Sollux said, "What?"

"Aren't you going to light it?"

"You're ath fucking dumb ath ever. If you want to light that you'll have to open the door, or the fire will uthe up all the oxygen and we'll die. And if we open the door then they'll follow the thmoke."

"The Handmaid has burning incense the whole time and we haven't been found yet."

Nobody spoke for a few seconds, then the Handmaid decided, "Light it, Lasers. We could probably do with the pick me up of a fire and warm food."

He told the three of them to go fuck themselves then slunk of to a dark corner of the room.

They ate the soup cold.

A night was spent in the room, which soon warmed up thanks to the four bodies emitting heat, and by morning they were all warmer than they had been in a while. Sollux still refused to make a fire, so they ate cold soup again for breakfast.

They found a pack of cards in the room, which they took to playing. None of the younger mutants knew how to play with them, and only Tavros had seen a real pack before, something that bewildered the Handmaid. She taught them blackjack first, as it was relatively easy to learn in its simplest state, though Vriska had an insanely lucky streak which irritated them no end.

Once they grew bored of Vriska's luck at the game, which took a grand total of ten minutes, the Handmaid collected the cards back in, gave them a long, thorough shuffle (because how was Vriska even getting so lucky, surely she'd shuffled them wrong) then paused, tapping the deck against her lower lip as she thought.

"Do you know poker?" she asked.

"I've read about it in books, uh, from before the war. No one really plays it anymore… I don't think." Tavros replied.

With a wry smile she dealt the cards out, then stood up and rummaged about the room to find something that could serve as poker chips. A small journal was found with writing in, though none of them could read the language it was written in, so they tore up a few of the pages and used them as a replacement for the chips.

The first game was a long one as Tavros, Vriska and Sollux tried to navigate their way about the game. It was easier said than done but eventually they learnt the basic rules of the game, though not the scoring at the end, as the Handmaid herself did not have a clue how that worked so mostly made it up.

The one night soon turned into another, with the reasoning of 'we need to eat loads now before we leave in case we don't find anymore food for a while'. After the third night, they took as much supplies as they could carry and set off into the tunnels again.

Now that they had torches and blankets, the journey was somewhat more enjoyable, and Vriska did not feel as if she could freeze each night, though she still would have liked to borrow the body heat of one of her lower-blooded companions.

The second day after they had left the room, Vriska found herself leaning against the wall of the tunnel rubbing slow circles into her lower leg with her thumb. The stiffness in her leg was no where near as bad as it used to get at the start of their escapade, for which she was thankful for. But it was still a pain in the ass regardless.

A shifting in fabric drew her attention to the body next to her. Tavros rubbed his eyes, then realised that in the darkness it would do little to improve his vision.

He picked up a torch, got to his feet then shuffled down the corridor until Vriska lost sight of him. Probably went off to pee.

"Is anyone awake?" he asked softly once he returned, ears held forwards and alert as he tried to listen out for any movement. There was no point in pretending to be asleep, for his hearing was just as good as hers, so Vriska gave a small cough.

"Oh, uhh, Vriska."

An awkward silence followed.

"You still hate me, don't you," Vriska commented with a surreal amount of detachment. "Both of you."

"Uhh?"

"I'm not mad about it, Tavros. You don't have to pretend otherwise," she smirked. "What, are you too worried about hurting my feelings?"

"There's nothing wrong with, uhh, being worried about hurting, other people's feelings." he protested.

Vriska snorted loudly. "That's a very Tavros thing to say. Sure, look out for others and whatever, but you need to stop thinking you owe something to other people. You need to put yourself first for a change, or people will walk all over you. Oh wait, they already do."

"Wow. Okay, are you just going to, uh, sit there, and insult me all night?"

"Nah, I've got better things to do."

"Uhh… like?"

About to reply, Vriska paused and thought. Damn, she really didn't have anything to do. It was either talk to Tavros or go back to sleep, and Tavros was sounding far sassier than she was used to. She shifted into a more comfortable position against the wall; a position closer to him so she could speak softer in case of Sollux and the Handmaid waking up (not that it would do anything).

"You've got me. I'm bored."

"Then why don't you go to sleep?"

"Hmm, I wonder why?"

"You can't sleep?"

"Obviously not if I'm still speaking to you."

"You're, uhh, as rude as ever."

"Of course," she said with a sickly smile. "Would you expect anything less?"

"Not really.

Neither spoke for several minutes.

"Hey, Toreadork?"

"Yeah?"

Vriska thought over her words in her head.

"Did you ever get worried we were going to die?" she asked.

"Huh?"

Embarrassed, she turned defensive, "Well, I mean I didn't. Obviously. But like, for a orange-blood like you, you must see death around every corner! Must suck to not be cerulean."

"Oh."

"As in, when we were travelling for days with nothing but a fucking chewy sweet to keep us alive. It was pretty rough. I don't know what the Handmaid was thinking," Vriska whispered angrily.

"Isn't it, uhh, obvious? Like, I get the impression that, uh, she's been trapped in that building for, well, ages. She just wanted to put as much distance between us and T.R.O.L.L as possible. I don't, uhh, think she was really doing it, consciously."

"Hmm."

They were silent for a while, Tavros fiddling with one of his zips while Vriska subconsciously began to massage her calves.

"Hey… um," Tavros began haltingly. "So uh… you know all that stuff about, uhh, you and Eridan right?"

Vriska turned with an amused look. "Yeah?"

"Um, so, like… was all the stuff he, uhh, was, well saying, you know… true?"

"What do you mean?" she replied, her voice going low, then mocking. "Are you wanting me to spill all the dirty details of what happened between me and hipster fish or something?"

Face suddenly lighting up with a thick flush, Tavros leapt to his defence, "No! No no no no no. Shit, no, that's uhh, that's not what I, well, meant at all. It's just, you know what Eridan is like, uhh, best out of all of us. He has the, um, tendency to lie and exaggerate a lot, you know?"

"Why, what was he saying?"

"Ohh, well, you know… um, actually, no, nevermind, that was really, uhh, intruding of me. I'm sorry."

"No, you started this and I'm curious now. What kind of stuff was he saying?"

"Uhh, well you know… all about, um, ah, getting it on every, uh, night, and some of the, well, details of, umm, it seemed somewhat, uhh, off."

" _What_?" Vriska roared, startling the Handmaid and Sollux who had been listening in and making them jump. "Are you fucking serious? Oh my gooooooood."

She then startled them again by laughing with genuine amusement.

"Wow, I cannot believe he's _that_ pathetic. He was always going on about how he was gonna make Feferi jealous and shit like that, but woooooooow. No, he wishes he got in my pants, he was making all that 'detail' up, what a fucking loser." Then at the visible sigh of relief from Tavros, and a relax to the shoulders from Sollux, she asked, "What's with the relief?"

"I get the impression that some pretty kinky things were goin' round about you, bearcat."

At this, Vriska sneered in disgust. "So that's why you were asking me, Tavros. Well, no, we didn't do anything like that. Gross. I would make a comment on how I cant believe your gullibility, but it honestly doesn't surprise me."

Seeing as they were all awake again, the Handmaid decided that it would be best if they simply kept going again. And so, after a quick breakfast of somewhat warm sauerkraut (they had finally managed to persuade Sollux to heat the bottom of the jars with his lasers) they set off again.

It was the third day after this that Vriska began to notice something a little peculiar. As per usual, she awoke a while before the others and started her routine of leg massages, but something she had not been expecting was to be able to see a strange grey blur in front of her. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, only to find that a vague and hazy image of the corridor was visible, yet something seemed off about the image.

Confused, closed her left eye.

The corridor was rendered invisible again and she could see nothing but black.

She then closed only her right eye.

A greyscale image of the scene before her was now visible.

So it was only in her right eye; that would explain why it looked off.

Admittedly it was very much blurred, and the depth perception was messed up due to only one eye allowing her to see in such a way, but wow, for the first time since they had gone down in the tunnels, she had been able to properly see everything around them without being dazzled by the light of the torch, or straining her eyes to see by the meagre amount of light given by Sollux's optic blasts, when hidden mostly behind his weird coloured glasses.

Vriska was so excited by this that she leapt to her feet, then felt pain ripple down her calves and sat back down again, so prodded the other three awake instead.

Initially confused and sceptical, Sollux and Tavros tested said eyesight in a number of ways (though little conclusion was made, seeing as the eyesight was still new and blurred.

To the Handmaid, however, this news was not only unsurprising, but also expected.

With Vriska's permission, she took the covered torch and shone it at both of the girls eyes, making a satisfied noise when she saw the right eye. It drew a noise of horror from the boys however.

"Why are you freaked out?" she demanded. "What the fuck is up with my eye?"

"Nothin's wrong with your eye, kiddo," the Handmaid smiled. "It's doin' what it should. I admittedly was a little worried about whether this would go through, what with you getting it removed an' all, but it's fine. Do you know about your ancester, Mindfang, a bit more now after all your time with the witch?"

"She had more important shit to teach me than about some old lady," Vriska pouted. "Though I know she was pretty fucking badass."

"Hm, I guess you could see it like that. I'd refer to Mindfang as more of a pirate though. Don't get it into your head, bearcat, that Mindfang was _at all_ admirable. She wasn't a good person… mutant… hybrid… oh whatever," the Handmaid frowned. "Either way, she possessed vision eightfold, and it's a trait that should well have passed onto you."

"Also, uhh, your iris and pupils have kinda, um, started to separate a bit into a kinda, weird blob… which, im not going to lie, is pretty fucking weird." Tavros commented.

"Oh," said Vriska. "Yeah, that is pretty fucking weird."

Though really, what with the complete change in skin colour, height, teeth and gaining horns, the idea of her eyes changing a bit again did not phase her a massive amount.

It took about three days for the vision to clear enough to be of use, and this, the Handmaid deduced, was because the pupil and iris of Vriska's eyes were still in the process of splitting up properly, and so the vision would be blurred until the movement was done.

Now that the mutant was able to see (somewhat) clearly in the dark, the torch was no longer used. Admittedly, there was little chance of the Condesce's people finding them now, it had been over a week and they still had not be found, but better safe than sorry. They were now as they had before, and relied some what on the optic blast's light, along with Vriska to guide them in the general direction.

Out of the four in their group, the person they wanted to be reliant on the least was Vriska, but at the end of the day beggars cannot be choosers, and a bitch who had no social skills but did have nightvision was better than a saint with no nightvision.

Though she did frequently make them bump into walls on purpose.

They had been in the tunnel almost twenty days when the four were met with the acrid reek of damp. The tunnels were generally very dry, and so mould was a very rare occurrence. But this was a scent that so overwhelmed them, that the Handmaid with her far more advanced sense of smell had to sit down for a bit.

Once she was able to continue again, they travelled further ahead and were given an explanation of the smell.

A opening to the tunnels.

It was the second opening they had seen on the course of their travels, and while Vriska and Sollux were raring to go at the sight of it, the Handmaid told them not to go anywhere near it.

And it was soon apparent why.

"See where the torch is pointing? All this funky damp smell is because of the water seepin' in. It must be the Condesce's plan; she figured that submerging the planet in water was a sure-fire way to win the war," The Handmaid pursed her lips, then added, "And, I guess, it had the additional benefit of bein' annoying as fuck for us, rendering us unable to leave by most of the exits for these tunnels."

Once finished speaking, the Handmaid swore once more, angrily and aggressively, before folding her arms and looking up.

"We could risk just openin' it anyway, and seeing if we can try our best to swim up without drowning. But I don't think that'd be wise."

"I bet I could do it," shrugged Vriska.

"Really?" the Handmaid replied in a faux-surprised tone. "Well ain't that the bees knees! But, you see, it's not gonna be a few metres. There could well be a mile deep of water out there, and while you may have _bedded_ a pretty seadweller boy, that doesn't _make_ you one. Got it?"

"How many times? I didn't fuck Eridan!" Vriska snarled. "And what other chance are we going to get? Surely she'll be waiting by any of the openings that are above the water. We should just take this one. It'll be fine."

"It won't! Even if you did manage to make it to the surface, where would you go? You'd have to swim for miles and miles before you found land. I refuse to take that risk and put my life and your lives in such risk. We are going to keep moving," the Handmaid, her voice getting louder by the minute. "If you do wanna do something though, then you could usefully cut out the trackers in our arms, we cannot have them in when we get to the surface."

"Oh yeah? How am I supposed to do that?"

"With a knife and some thread?" the older woman said. "Your immune systems should be very advanced by now too, so we can use the water from up there to clean the wounds a bit. There may be quite a bit of blood."

"Aren't you forgetting that we have no idea where the tracker ith in the firtht plathe? Going by the thithe of the needle they uthed to inject it in, it'll be pretty tiny," Sollux pointed out. "We would be rummaging around in peopleth armth for dayth trying to find it."

At this, the Handmaid put a hand on Vriska's shoulder, which was both unexpected and kind of weird. "You forget that this girl has vision eightfold now. She can look into your arm and find where it is, and from there we cut the arm open, I'll pull it out with my powers, and then we stitch the wound closed. It shouldn't be a big wound either."

"Then, uhh, why didn't you do that before?"

"Like I said, Vriska had vision eightfold now, and not when we first came in. If not for that then the only viable option really would be amputation, because of the very small size of the tracker and how impossible it would be to find," the Handmaid paused to collect her thoughts. "We would not do that, however, unless circumstances were really dire, as it'd probably result in at least one of us being bumped off.

'The Condesce knows this too. But she _is_ in the dark about Vriska's vision eightfold. After givin' her a new eye, she didn't think that any more mutatin' would be going down there. But it has, so luckily for us we're a step ahead of the witch."

Vriska frowned, "How am I supposed to see the tracker? All I can do is see slightly better in the dark now."

"If your vision eightfold is anything like that of Mindfang's, then you should be able to see its position inside the arm. In theory."

"Well I'm thure ath fuck not being the tetht thubject."

"Couldn't there, uhh, be a way for Vriska to make you use your telekinesis on the tracker when, she knows where it, um, is?"

"Hmm," the Handmaid pouted. "That would involve letting down my guard around Vriska, and seeing as it is not a conscious thing that would be tricky. I would rather not have to be controlled, yet it seems I have no choice. We need to practice first."

"Yeah, okay."

"Vriska, this is gonna be _hard_. I hope you're confident in your abilities."

"Please. Im Vriska Serket, I exude confidence, and luck. So your lack of faith is pretty insulting to be honest," she said, then shrugged. "I should be able to, I've done weirder."

"Thath for thure."

Vriska sat, then stared intensely at her arm, trying to identify something vaguely tracker like. It would surely not be made of the same flesh and blood that the rest of her arm would be. That was a start…

Nothing happened.

But she kept focused, and after another few moments something changed. And while she was looking at the grey skin of her arm still, it was as if she could also see _through_ it. Skin and muscles and veins started to blur almost, as her vision eightfold began to focus on something else. Something… plastic and silicon and metal… it was almost focussed… almost there

Tap.

"Aah!" Vriska jumped as Tavros's hand lightly tapped her shoulder. "I almost had it! What's your problem?"

"Ohh, sorry! It's just, uhh, well you've kind of been sitting there for about ten minutes now, so, um…" Tavros fumbled, and Vriska was somewhat amused at how he no longer seemed like the cocky and overconfident boy he had been acting like a few months prior. That mission wherein they had met up accidentally had been weird, especially concerning the shy boy's personality. Either way, she was still pissed off at him snapping her out of focus.

"What did you do that for, Toreadork? I was almost there! And I did not take ten minutes, it was barely two."

"You must have been really focused, bearcat," the Handmaid chuckled, then her tone dampened. "Though judging by the amount of focus you need, I doubt you would be able to control my telekinesis at the same time."

"I'm sure I could, just let me practice more." Vriska retorted.

"Sure, but I think for now, it would be better if we kept movin'. You can practice when we rest tonight."

So that's what they did, and the Handmaid was relieved when they left behind the smell of mould. Later that night when the stopped, and enjoyed a meal of tinned pears, Vriska continued to try using the vision eightfold.

**== > Cut to the chase!**

A few nights after the first attempt, she finally cracked it, and then, with the use of the Handmaid's telekinesis, made her first attempt of drawing the tracker out from her arm.

It was painful, and Vriska had placed a piece of cloth in her teeth to bite down on as she rummaged about with the telekinesis. The pain helped keep her mind sharp and focused though.

Thankfully, the tracker was the size of approximately a quarter of her little finger nail, though; drawing it out was relatively easy because of this.

The hardest part so far was removing it from the muscle it had been injected in, and that involved a sort of blunt mental cutting which brought cerulean tears to the girls eyes. Once free however, all she had to do was attempt to relax the muscles of her forearm, and tease the tracker out from between them, which was more uncomfortable and weird than painful.

When done with this, a visible lump was visible under her skin, at which point Sollux sterilised a knife with his optic blasts and sliced open her skin enough for Vriska to bring it out with the telekinesis.

Done.

Vriska slumped to the ground, and Tavros, who was seated to her left caught her head just before it hit the ground.

"Thanks, Tavros." she muttered, a little out of it, before sinking into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, the Handmaid sat up straight from her previously slouched position, and rubbed her forehead. "That was horrid."

The bloodied tracker was on the floor, and none of the conscious four knew what to do with it. The Handmaid was a little concerned that something bad could happen if it was destroyed, however, and so instead decided to throw it far down one of the tunnels branching off nearby. Better safe than sorry.

It was two days after removing her own tracker, that Vriska felt well enough to attempt removing the tracker in Tavros's arm. Thankfully, this was a lot easier for her and it was done with a lot less effort due to the lack of pain. It went so well, in fact, that she got halfway through the removal of Sollux's tracker, before passing out from exhaustion.

The next day, she finished off removing the tracker in Sollux's arm, and was about to attempt to start the Handmaid's, but was stopped.

"Kid, I don't think that'll work on me. My tracker is in a very different place."

"Where?"

The Handmaid pondered for a moment, then said, "I do not know."

"Well then we'll have to find it!" said Vriska.

But not that day.

After somehow managing to convince the Brit that she should not attempt to search for the tracker at that moment, they pushed onwards.

It was another two days before they realised that the path they were on was gradually taking them upwards, and another two after that one that they noticed a distinct rise in temperature.

When walking, their bodies began to feel damp again from the heat of their body and the heat of the air around them. They had forgotten what it was like to sweat, yet none were sure whether they necessarily welcomed the sensation.

However, the nights were still cold, and Vriska had found herself 'accidentally' pressing her back up against Tavros' back in the middle of the night on a number of occasions. Just doing that, combined with her blanket, was enough to ensure she got a decent nights sleep ( as opposed to spending several hours cold and unable to sleep).

Warmth over pride. Though she always made sure to back off again when she awoke to warm up her calf muscles.

The second hidden store room was found a few days after the increase in heat. Even with her improved sight, Vriska had trouble spotting it. But once found, they entered the room.

Unlike the other hideout, this one had barely any supplies in. Yet the Handmaid felt like another opening was close by, so they rested there for a day, eating the few supplies that were left.

Annoyingly for all of them, Vriska still had not managed to locate the area where the Handmaids tracker was.

Group Eight had gotten very fond of the older woman without realising it, and were aghast at the idea of leaving her behind, which is what she had been suggesting.

She had a point though. They would be unable to leave the tunnels with her in their midst, as the tracker would immediately let the Condesce where they were, and they would be punished to the very brink of death for certain.

But again, the idea of leaving her behind…

Instead, a plan was made.

Like the Handmaid had suspected, an opening was indeed nearby, and unlike the previous ones they had discovered, this one led through a manhole cover onto dry land, as Vriska discovered.

In the distance, a shimmer of water could be seen, so extensive that it could well have been the sea, yet she knew that it was simply the now flooded plains they had once resided under.

All around were somewhat decayed building and heavy lifting machinery, possibly from the early 2000's. The air was still and hot, and it was clear to her that no one had been around these parts for a long time.

Vriska grinned.

Perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus chapter bc i'm poop and forgot to update the past few weeks x)


	5. Bridges Made and Broken

The heat was almost unbearable in the direct sunlight, but under the small amount of shade offered by trees, one could cope.

Deciding who to send out to explore was tricky. The obvious choice was Sollux and Vriska, due to Vriska's manipulation skills, and then Sollux for his quick thinking and no nonsense attitude when it came to the blue-blood. Yet both the Handmaid and Tavros worried of how much would actually be achieved through such a duo. It was apparent that Sollux still held a deep rooted hatred for Vriska, as she had slain Aradia (and used Sollux's own body to do so).

There was no use sending out Tavros with her, as they all knew that Vriska would quite likely bully him, and it was not a fate that the other two wished upon him.

After processing such information, then logically it would have made sense to send the Handmaid out with Vriska. Yet since they still could not locate the tracking device within her, it was impossible.

Eventually, it ended up having to be sorted out with a game of rock, paper, scissors.

Sollux lost with scissors, Tavros won with rock, and Vriska was in a mood for the rest of the day at how neither wanted to go exploring with her.

The Handmaid made them both swear that they would not fight, then let them leave.

Equipped with a pack of food, a blanket and some water each (though seeing as they were only supposed to be taking a quick look around the area, the supplies were for emergency only), Vriska and Sollux left the hidden room and began their journey to see what the local area was like.

Admittedly, wandering around in broad daylight was probably not the best idea in the world, and after five minutes of it, the pair returned, suggesting instead that they waited until dusk before exploring. For it was too hot, and also made them more likely to be spotted.

Tavros, however, was still adamant that it would be safer to explore in the day. Apparently big cats and other dangerous animals came out at night in the deserts of the southern states of the US. Vriska boasted that her vision was just as good as theirs at night now, so they need not worry. Sollux reminded her that while she may have good vision, it did not mean that she was going to be able to pick up a stalking wild cat. The Handmaid told them to stop arguing and start coming up with a solution, and that was the end of that.

Ignoring Tavros' anxieties, at about dusk, the pair set off again, armed only with Sollux's optic blasts and Vriska's fluorite octet.

With Vriska leading, Sollux was left to keeping a lookout, but thankfully it seemed that no people were out that day.

Beyond the heavy lifting machinery was a small lightly forested area, populated mostly half dead trees, and a number of hardy cacti. The twigs and dead leaves beneath their feet were incredibly dry, as one would expect, and crunched and snapped loudly wherever they went.

They never saw a big cat, much to Vriska's disappointment. They did however, see a common house cat that had turned feral.

"Do you think you can eat cactuses?" Vriska asked Sollux after twenty minutes of wandering. She had gotten thirsty, despite how the temperature had dropped considerably as they went, yet did not want to drink from the water bottle just yet. The cacti they passed looked juicy and full of water, and the idea of eating something fresh after weeks of only tinned or dried food seemed like heaven on earth… even if it was a cactus…

He gave her a fed up look, which soon changed to a frown as he said, "Yeah, actually."

They went to go inspect one of the many succulent looking cacti.

"Thethe oneth are edible. It's a prickly pear," he decided, then realised they had no way to harvest them without getting a multitude of spikes in their fingers… or so he suspected. Sollux was fairly certain that these fruit, and the edible stalks, were covered in fine prickles. But he was not certain. Luckily for him, he had a test subject. "Vrithka, get thethe oneth. I'm gonna look for thomething to carry them in."

"Why not our bags?" she replied with a confused frown.

Sollux gave her a withering stare, "I'd rather not get cactuth all over my stuff, but don't let me hold you back."

"Fuck you." Vriska spat, and turned quickly to hide her angry flush, and marched back towards the cacti. Walking about all day in such a state of dehydration was messing with her concentration.

She reached out to grab one of the bulbous red fruit, and found to her horror that what she had taken to be mere lumps on the prickly pears surface was actually a cluster of fine spikes.

"Sollux!" she shrieked furiously. "Did you know about the fucking prickles?"

"I do now," he shrugged, and continued looking around for scraps of fabric.

Their trek continued for a while further until they stumbled across a railway track. Neither had seen a real one before, as they were no longer commonplace in cities, though Vriska recognised it after a few seconds.

"If we follow this far enough we'll find people. Maybe," she said. "Though I have no idea which side to follow."

"We can't go looking like thith anyway,"

Vriska frowned with confusion, then looked down at her grey hands and long yellow nails. All of the time she had spent at T.R.O.L.L had made her forget that most people would run at the sight of her mutation. She clenched her hands into fists.

She turned to Sollux with her trademark smirk. "Well then, we'll just have to figure out how to look like normal people."

Sollux snorted. "Good luck with that. You haven't got a fucking chance."

"Not with that attitude," she replied mockingly, then placed her hands on the wooden fence that separated them from the tracks. Yet as she was about to jump over, Sollux places his hand on her shoulder.

"We can't go now. We need to get back to Tavroth and HM," he reminded. At this, she turned back to face Sollux, glaring at him with a pronounced pout of annoyance.

"So what? A cripple and a woman who cant leave those tunnels without having the fish bitch know where we are? Why should someone as gorgeous and smart as I am have to put up with a bunch of losers like you?"

Sollux was confused at the 'fishbitch' but ignored it for now. "Well why don't you go then? It'th not like you fucking need uth. You'd probably jutht end up killing another one of uth anyway."

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't understand what was going on for a fucking second, Sollux."

"What ithn't there to underthtand? You uthed me to murder one of my clothetht friends."

"You know, I'm not obliged to tell every fuckwit why I do things. But you really wanna know why I did it?" she snarled. "Fine."

"Vrithka. There ith nothing you could thay that would make me forgive what you did."

"No, you shit-for-brains. You are going to listen. You think that Doc Scratch runs this whole gig right? You couldn't be more wrong. It's run by this insane tyrian-blood, and when she asks you to do something you can do absolutely fucking nothing but obey. She told me that if I killed Aradia, then I could get Tavros' legs and my arm and eye back. And even without those perks, it's hardly as if I had a choice."

"You killed Aradia jutht so you could get thothe trivial thingth back?"

"Bluh! Being able to walk is hardly trivial you piece of shit. But seeing as all of you despise me despite how I did everything I could to help you, I should just fucking leave."

There was silence as Sollux thought about the information he had just been given. Vriska was right, he had no idea about this strange tyrian-blood she had spoken of… and yet it made sense. And while he would never truly forgive Vriska for making him murder Aradia… applying Vriska's warped logic to the situation did result in proof that she genuinely cared for their well being. Despite it being shown in a truly despicable manner.

"Wait."

For a while it seemed as if the blue-blood was going to ignore his words and head on down the track anyway. She had no real attachments to any of her three companions, she told herself, and thus she had no reason to stuck around them.

But that was untrue.

Vriska truly valued the snarky friendship that had sparked between the Handmaid and herself. Much of the same could be said about her relationship with Sollux before the Aradia incident. And then there was Tavros, which in reality was a whole other kettle of fish that Vriska had no intention of addressing.

And so she let go of the fence and turned her back on the tracks.

"Finally realised how much you need me-"

"Don't you fucking dare," he said. And so, realising how tense the boy was, she stopped talking.

The walk back to the tunnels was long and silent. Though there was a sense of understanding between the two mutants that had not been there before.

Thanks to Sollux's good memory, they found the manhole back to the Handmaid and Tavros, and as Sollux was about to enter, he felt Vriska's hand on his arm.

A strange unintelligible mutter left her lips.

"What?"

"You fucking well heard it, and there's no way I'm repeating that," she snarled.

He genuinely had not. But judging by Vriska's embarrassment, she could only have said one thing. Sorry.

Sorry could never replace Aradia, or take back the nights he lay curled up loathing and wanting to destroy his very body for killing her, or heal the mental damage that had been inflicted. But it was genuine.

The first rays of morning sun hit the skin on Sollux's face, and promptly vanished as he descended back down into the underworld of North America. Unlike Vriska who was basking in the light for 'just one more minute', he was used to spending days locked up in his room, and in theory could last just fine without the sun for another few weeks. But he nevertheless spent a few more seconds looking up at the sunrise; enjoying the bird song and the gorgeous colours; before heading down the ladder.

Vriska followed shortly behind him, and the manhole was closed once more.

* * *

**== > well that was weird…**

Name not recognised.

**== > Urghh, fine, I'll give you a name. What happened with Jade?**

You are now Jade Harley, and you are currently locked in a room all alone

It had been three days since the fighting, and Jade could not get the images out of her head. The mutants, the rainbow drinkers, those weird bug like creatures, the death, the flooding, the teleportation, the MUTANTS and all that had happened with Dave…

The Condesce had not let her visit this strange other Dave, John or Rose even once.

And she had _promised_ as well!

Though in all honesty, Jade had not really believed that the Condesce would deliver. While she had seemed all sickly sweet and pleased when they spoke, it was clear that she was still a complete and utter bitch.

Her nails began to leave dents in her palms as she stared up at the ceiling.

Jade wanted to go home. But she could not because there was no home to go to. The Condesce had made sure of that.

Were the others even alive still? They could be dead for all she knew, and maybe they were. And all she was doing was sitting in this stupid fucking room doing diddly fucking squat.

**== > Look around the room**

You've looked around the room hundreds of times already.

**== > Inspect the lock**

Like that's going to do anything…

**== > Get your attitude together young lady!**

You decide to get up and inspect the lock, but unsurprisingly the door on your side lacks even a handle. See?

Footsteps began making their way down the corridor outside… and predictably passed right on by… like always.

Another day passed before anything of interest happened, and that was when an errand boy appeared, informing her that he had arrived to take her to the Condesce. It was going to be a long walk, if Jade recalled correctly.

"What's your name?" Jade asked hesitantly.

The errand boy did not reply.

She waited a few more seconds, then added, "Did you hear me?"

Ignored once more, Jade decided to heartily say 'fuck that' to any further attempts at conversation with the staff at the freak show that was the retainment organisation.

What kind of name was that anyway? Evidently one created by someone struggling to come up with an acronym for the word troll. So, it was probably made by the Condesce then.

After a good quarter of an hour of wandering they arrived before the Condesce's door, and Jade was shoved in.

Unlike with the errand boy, Jade knew better than to speak without permission around her Imperial Condesce. The fishbitch in question was looking hideously pleased with herself; something that Jade found repulsive, due to knowing the reason behind her smugness. Jade wondered how many had died… and how many at her own hands.

Best not dwell on such matters.

"Jane, was it?" the Condesce slurred. It sounded as if the mutant had been drinking a bit… or perhaps she was just tired.

"Jade," the islander corrected.

"Whatever. You displayed your power on the battlefield, did you not?"

"I'm… I don't know," Jade muttered, for truly, she did not know, and so much shit had happened recently, and honestly she did not have a clue about almost everything going on around her.

The Condesce laughed loudly.

"You don't know? Are all you humans such idiots?" she mocked, then leant forward. "Did you teleport, or did you not teleport? It's not hard!"

"I said I don't know," Jade replied again, her voice becoming terse.

"I said I don't know!" the Condesce repeated in an offensive babyish tone, then returned to her normal voice. "Well you knowing or not is really all that's going to keep you alive, so you are going to have to think long and hard about it."

"What?"

"Kid, you are only alive right now because your powers could be useful to me. If it was not you who did the teleport thing, but that dead alternate version of the rust-blood you were with, then I'll give you to the rainbow drinkers as a toy."

"No! Fuck you!" Jade slammed her fingers down on the desk and stood up from her chair. So quickly, in fact, that it tottered about on two legs for a few seconds, and then crashed to the ground, filling the silent room entirely with noise.

For a few seconds, the only sound in the room was a slow tick tock tick from an antique clock on the Condesce's desk.

It was in these few seconds that Jade would have regretted her actions, had the past events not transpired. So instead she stood glaring at the tyrian-blood before her, breathing heavily and trembling all over.

"Excuse me?" the Condesce asked, her mocking grin now a threatening and entirely menacing smile that almost, but not quite, hid her fury. "Would you like to repeat that for me?"

"No I wont fucking repeat it, you fuckass! How fucking dare you! You expect me to be placid and obey you as I watched as you ruin my home and kill people and kidnap my friends? And then you have the fucking _audacity_ to tell me that unless I complete an impossible task, that you're going to kill me?"

The Condesce had gone somewhat pink in the face. An angry flush, Jade assumed.

And then, she felt a sharp stinging sensation on her cheek. And then another. And another.

But Jade was not going to stand for this, and grabbed the Condesce's arm, adrenaline and fury pumping through her system.

"You-"

Suddenly, they were somewhere completely different.

Storm clouds cloaked the sky and horizon as far as the eye could see, and lashings of rain slapped the pair in the face. They had arrived on the plateau of land that Jade had last teleported to.

At this, the Condesce's previously furious face turned to a sly smile. She did not say a word, but honestly Jade was glad for that.

The tyrian-blood made several glances at the ocean while they waited to be picked up. It seemed that she was longing to swim, though Jade could not be certain… although there had been strange rumours circulating about mutants found with gills. Perhaps she was one of them. After all that the girl had seen in the past few weeks, it would not surprise her

As before, a helicopter soon appeared to whisk them back to the base.

After a few minutes of silence, the Condesce's phone rang. From what Jade overheard, something strange had happened in the room they had been in previously. Something had emerged from whatever rupture in space she had created to move such a distance in such a short amount of time.

Oh.

The journey was spent in silence, following

An errand boy greeted them at the entrance to the facility. "I have been instructed to warn you of a possibly harmful creature roaming the facility."

Jade pitied the poor thing immensely at the look the Condesce gave him.

"You mean to tell me that this situation has not been dealt with?"

'Don't shoot the messenger' was clearly not a phrase the Condesce knew, as she backhanded the boy. Yet he got back onto his feet in a matter of seconds, the eerie smile never once leaving his face.

"This way, your highness."

While they walked back to Jades cell, the girl wondered what manner of creature she had… created? Released?

Hell if she knew, though she was certainly intrigued to see the creature, once it had been properly confined of course. Though it would probably turn out to be something mundane from her island; a gull or insect perhaps.

Jade was returned to her cell without a hitch, however, and the errand boy and the Condesce continued down the corridor on their hunt for the missing creature.

On the table was a plate of dauphinoise potatoes, with a thick savoury stew full of vegetables and a meat Jade could not for the life of her identify. Teleporting had taken a lot of energy from her, and so she instantly sat at the table, scoffing down the meal.

In her hunger (and admittedly bad manners from having grown on an island with only her and her semi batty grandfather), she cared little about watching where the sauce from the stew was going, and before she knew it, ended up with a large splodge of gravy running down the front of her overalls.

Pouting, she stood up and walked over to the bathroom section of the cell.

It was a simple, and rather embarrassing affair; especially when she shared the room with John and Dave. At the far corner of the room was a toilet, next to a sink, with a shitty plastic mirror hung above it. It was the sort that could not shatter, and thus could not be used as a weapon.

Chilled, fresh water flowed from the tap. Water from deep underground, though given the new covering of saltwater, the Condesce would probably have to consider a new source.

Jade filled the sink with water, then got to work splashing and attempting to rinse off the sauce. She was absorbed in the work at hand, and after a few minutes of intense scrubbing, the stain left the fabric.

Satisfied, she straightened her back up, and took a quick peek at the mirror… and then froze on the spot.

Behind her…

Behind her was a strange pulsing _thing_.

Just over her left shoulder, it shimmered and writhed in a somewhat spherical shape like nothing she had seen before, in harsh shades of white and blue, and yet at the very same time it seemed so soft. Its nature was hypocrisy; everything it stood for it also denied. There was an aura to it that screamed of how it _should not be there_.

Yet there it was.

Her fingers itched for her rifle she knew she did not have, while her lungs soon starved for oxygen. Jade dared not breathe.

And then, she slowly turned.

The thing stayed put. It did not lunge or attack her, yet that unsettled her more in a way. It had to be what had escaped from the rift in space, there was no doubt about it.

**== Talk to it**

You are not doing ANY such thing, even if you COULD move, which you cannot due to sheer terror

As if sensing the girls fear, the thing pulsed a soft, green light.

**== Say something!**

"What…" Jade squeaked, then cleared her throat. "What are you?"

It did not reply, though Jade expected as such. As if a trans-dimensional being would be able to speak English!

Pulsing a somewhat jittery series of edges, the thing dropped a few inches, as if ill. It would make sense for it not to be able to survive long in this dimension.

At that moment, the door slammed open, and several armed members of the retainment organisation sped in, yanking Jade out of the way and surrounding the being.

For a few moments, the air was silent and dead, save for the hushed whispering of the guards breath. Then, with the crackling static of an order, gunfire filled the room, followed by a terrified, screaming chitter.

Thud.

Jade leapt to her feet, peering through the gaps in the guards circle to see what was left of the being.

Thin, chiffon like skin lay draped over what appeared to the skeleton of the thing, which was a bright blue, spherical representation of… a spirograph? Whichever angle she looked at it from, it appeared to keep the shape of a flat spirograph, and yet she _knew_ it was a 3D shape; she could see that from how the skin hung about the core. Another interesting feature she noticed was the lack of internal organs or damage. There was nothing but the skin and the skeleton.

Interesting.

The remains were carefully placed into an odd looking box, and the guards shuffled out as quickly as they appeared, leaving Jade alone, confused and frightened of what else could appear.

This was not fair! But then she was used to being alone, she guessed. Though she had Bec on her island at the very least. Here, she had nothing and no one.

Plus, she had demonstrated the ability to teleport, and that meant that the Condesce saw her as an important asset.

Fuck.

There would be no escape.

God, but she missed her dog.

* * *

**== > Be someone else**

Name not recognised

**== > Be someone we havn't visited in a while**

You are now Nepeta Leijon, and you have just been saved from the floods-

**== > No, before then, when she found Equius and Aradiabot**

You are now Nepeta Leijon, and are about to walk in on your meowrail being passionately kissed by a robot resembling your dead friend.

After a days work clearing rubble and fixing homes, Nepeta liked to relax when she got in. For example, cooking and eating the meat she had caught, or napping on Equius' lap while he worked, or drawing images of her friends and the landscapes around them.

Work was sometimes rather stressful, and she occasionally dealt with people who took her and her teams work for granted, and insulted them, asking them to speed up, or do a better job. That day, was one such day.

When such a day had occurred, she was always thankful for the lack of drama that went on in the workshop she and Equius shared; and that the engineers who assisted finished and left before she returned.

As such, when she walked in, called out to Equius that she was back, and heard no response other than muffled voices, she was confused.

Nepeta could hear the voices coming from the Equius' personal work room in the basement, which made her doubly confused, as the only people allowed in there were herself and Equius, naturally. Furthermore, Equius was not one to talk to himself… or not so loudly anyway.

Tiptoeing towards the stairs as softly as she could, the girl held an ear in the direction of the noise, and noticed the dancing movement of shadows cast through the small gap at the base of the door.

What?

Her blades slid out from under her sleeves.

One voice was definitely Equius… and the other… a girl?

Barely containing a grin, Nepeta turned away from the door.

Equius had a girl round! She could barely believe it. After Aradia had died, Equius had become incredibly drawn into himself. Nepeta suspected for a while that the blue-blood might have had feelings for Aradia, and his reaction proved it.

Aradia's death had been taxing on all the trolls, and the members of Team Seven were no exception. Both of them missed her dearly, but it had been worrying to see how unable Equius had been to move on. No matter what Nepeta did, she could not get a permanent smile back on his face, even if it was just a little one.

But bringing home a girl!

It was a step in the right direction, and Nepeta was so very proud of Equius. It was purrfect.

Thinking of refreshments to offer her, the girl was just about to bounce into the kitchen when she heard the girl raise her voice.

' _Oh god oh god oh god_!' Nepeta screamed internally as she padded back to the top of the stairs, listening once more. ' _If she's being a bitch to him because of his sweating problem I swear I will throw her out of the window personally_.'

"Get it out get it out get it out…" the girl with Equius shouted, and Nepeta recoiled a little, wondering what the implications of such a sentence meant, then berated herself, for she knew Equius, and knew that he would never do anything to harm someone.

But still… what on _earth_ was going on in there?

Crashing then suddenly filled the air, and the sound of skin being hit, and her eyes widened, a disgusted expression fixing itself on her face, and the decided _that was it_.

**== > Go in!**

You do not need to be told twice.

Nepeta rushed down the stairs, swung the door open, and there, in the middle of the room was Equius being held in the arms of a robot…

And they were kissing?

"Um…" she stammered.

And then noticed the robot was some strange version of Aradia.

"Ummm…" She cleared her throat loudly, getting the attention of both robot and mutant. "Is there… is there something you want to tell me about, Equius?"

The boy looked at her with horror, and she then took in the large amount of fresh, blue blood staining the floor and walls, and how flushed her meowrail was.

"Should… should I come back later? Would, um, would that be fur the best?"

Scratch that, Nepeta decided, and left, not waiting for a response.

What the actual fuck.

Nepeta had tugged the hat on over her horns, and was already half way down the street before she realised that judging by the amount of blood on the floor, Equius could actually be in real trouble, and probably not just in the midst of some really kinky fetish… thing.

Thankfully, when she returned to Equius' study, heart pounding in her chest, she was merely greeted with the sight of her brother wiping up the copious amount of blood with a towel.

Aradiabot was no where to be seen.

Though he had heard her come in, he did not turn.

"Equius?" Nepeta said softly. "What was all that about?"

His shoulders dropped, and he hung his head forwards, creating a curtain of hair to hide his face.

At this, she hopped forwards, taking his hand and pulling him upright. He refused to look her in the eye, and she noticed how his trademark sunglasses were missing.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"I don't know…" he replied.

There was blood soaking his skin and clothes. Nepeta tutted, and sent him off to have a shower, assuring him that she would take care of the mess in exchange for the story. Clearly, something had gone very wrong with one of his plans.

Once she was certain the weird Aradiabot thing was no where to be seen, Nepeta scrubbed and cleaned the workshop until it was free of blood, nose wrinkling at the scent of detergent the whole time. Pounce de Leon joined her in this task to 'help', yet she was more of a hindrance than a help, and did nothing but lick the blood off the walls.

BLEH.

The olive-blood imagined that this must be how Equius felt whenever she 'helped' with his projects, by draping herself over his lap and fiddling with bits and bobs until he played with her. Though seeing as they were now the same height (her very welcome growth spurt was to thank for this) she probably should stop, but whatever.

Having cleaned all the blood up, Nepeta wandered to the bathroom, and knocked on the door.

"I'm coming in, so get decent!"

She counted loudly to five, then went in, and found Equius asleep on the floor with the shower still running.

"Equius!" she shouted, and nudged him with her foot until he woke up. "You're wasting all the water, you dummy!"

"Ex-excuse me…" he mumbled, embarrassed at being caught asleep in the shower. "Could you pass me some towels, please?"

"Vomits! Whoops, I need to stop mock narrating my actions," she giggled as she leant over and switched off the water. "As soon as you're dressed, we're going to have a talk about that robot, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Actually, where did it go?"

"She is probably not coming back. Do not worry," he said miserably.

Nepeta pouted, then handed him a pair of towels. Once Equius was dressed, he joined Nepeta on the sofa. Instantly, she took his face in her hands, and held her forehead against his.

And then, Equius told her what happened. About Aradia's ghost, and how she was living inside him for years, and the strange blueprints she had given him, and his horrible feelings for her… and the robot… Before long, Equius had his head on Nepeta's lap as they had a long due feelings jam.

They awoke the next morning to the sound of pounding on the door. Nepeta yawned, pushing herself back from where she had previously been pressed close to her moirails back and stood up to check her face in the mirror.

The thick foundation on her face had not smudged too much overnight, and so she decided that she would be perfectly able to answer the door, after getting her hat of course. She shooed Equius away into his room due to his grey skin being on show, and then went to the door.

Before opening the door, she checked through the peep hole, and flinched.

It was Aradiabot.

"What do you want?!" Nepeta shouted.

"Let me in," a monotonous voice replied.

"Purrlease go away, you've caused enough damage!"

"Let me in,"

"You've got a body now! Purrlease go," Nepeta begged, but Aradiabot was having none of it.

"Nepeta, please. You do not understand," the robot said, and it was a testament to Equius' skill at robotics that her face managed to portray such urgency.

The girl sighed, and opened the door, prompting the robot to quickly enter before Nepeta changed her mind.

"We do not have much time. Grab everything of value to you and put it in a rucksack. I will find Equius and relay the message," she ordered.

"What do you mean?"

"I am truly sorry, but we do not have time to explain. You will not return after we leave though."

The sincerity in her artificial voice swayed the olive-blood, and after grunting angrily, she rushed into her bedroom to grab her things.

What was she to pack? After a short period of deliberation, she grabbed a few trinkets she had received as gifts from Equius and the people she had helped, and shoved them in a bag full of basic survival gear. After the time spent in the retainment organisation, she had secretly planned for such an event. One could never be too careful.

Nepeta fixed her retractable 'wolverine-lass' claws onto her wrists, and then threw on her favourite coat and the rucksack… and then swore as she realised she forgot to pack foundation. Luckily there was a small amount of space in the pockets, and so she crammed in as much as physically possible.

"Equius?" she called. "Equius!"

"In the basement!"

There, she found Aradiabot spread out on the worksurface, with Equius hurriedly fixing a metal plate over her chest. He had opted to ditch the human disguise due to time, and had a heavy looking rucksack on the floor beside him.

Interestingly, Aradiabot was drumming her fingers impatiently as she waited for Equius to be done with his work. Nepeta still did not trust her though, regardless of how human she appeared. She was still a robot. Unlike Equius who had the proof of Aradia living in his mind for years, Nepeta only had his story to go on, and was well aware of his crush on the girl… for all she knew, Aradiabot could just be some perverse way of fulfilling those fantasies. She sincerely hoped not, but she would first have to be convinced of there being some part of the real Aradia in that robotic husk.

"Done," Equius announced, at which Aradia leapt up from the table and tore out of the room in a hurry, heading for one of the windows.

"Merde!" she swore at whatever she was looking at, and rushed back to them. "Have you got everything?"

"Yes," Nepeta affirmed, with Equius nodding. They followed the robot to the roof, and both winced as she violently ripped the door to the balcony open.

Oh.

In the distance, they could see the ocean. And that was bullshit because they were miles inland…

"What is that?" Equius asked.

"The Condesce has decided to flood this planet. Lets go," the robot replied, then grabbed the two trolls, holding one under each arm. It was then when Nepeta realised that Pounce was still out in the garden, and screamed.

"Let me go! I need to get Pounce, let me go!"

"There is no time Nepeta. I am sorry," Aradiabot then made an impossible leap onto the highest part of their building, and then that of their neighbors house, and the grocery opposite, and then pshooooo off into the sky, clasping Nepeta tightly as she wriggled and clawed and swore and screeched for her pet.

But it was too late, and Nepeta could only scream as she watched the waters close in on their house and Pounce de Leon.

Aradiabot's face remained neutral. Nepeta would hate her, but her life had been saved, as had Equius'.

"We could have gone back, you could have carried her!" Nepeta sobbed. "We could have! You're carrying Equius' entire tool shed!"

"I could not carry your pet as well. I am sorry," She was lying but Nepeta did not need to know that. There was simply no way that she would be able to safely support both two humans _and_ a massive cat creature that would likely turn frightened and aggressive in the air.

"I hate you!"

The robot's face froze, something that neither of the pair she was carrying noticed. She then smoothly replied, "I know."


	6. More Villages

**== > Tell us more about Jade!**

You are now Jade Harley, and you are facing a dilemma.

Jade was in trouble. No matter what situation her personal trainer was throwing at her, she could not (or rather _would_ not) teleport again.

The situation with the spirograph creature had disturbed her more than anyone would have thought, and the lack of sleep only heightened the fear and paranoia that another creature was out there hunting for her.

There had been two occasions where she had teleported, yet only one sprite accounted for.

Deciding that Doc Scratch would be a better front for the frazzled girl, the Condesce decided that she would no longer talk to Jade unless she continued showing no improvement. Pissing off the lime-blood until she flipped and teleported was certainly fun, but the Condesce could not afford to find herself in a strange new locations at random. It was too risky.

One such meeting with Doc Scratch was where Jade was discussing 'long-term plans' and 'her commitment to the organisation'. It was all bullshit, and even the strange man sat before Jade knew it; she could see his lips twitching at the corners as he spoke.

"You realise, of course, that we have been incredibly kind to you?" Doc Scratch said, looking at her with that oh so concerned look. "Government officials had been searching for you for quite a while, and had they discovered you after your mutation began to set in fully… well. I daren't think what would have happened!"

Jade just stared at the desk.

She genuinely was not sure whether this strange man scared her more than the Condesce. Sure, the Condesce was powerful and crazy, but this man had invaded her island sanctuary, and somehow that felt more violating and terrifying than the Condesce forcing her to remain silent with her powers.

"I don't care," the girl replied.

"Ms Harley, I want to help you, I truly do," he reminded in a suave tone. "Would you feel more comfortable if we invited in that delectab- I mean dedicated friend of yours, Ms LaLonde in?"

At this, she felt her stomach turn. What was this creepy doing with Rose? He was at least twenty years her senior!

"No. Don't you dare touch her, you fuckass," she snarled.

"Please excuse my slip of the tongue. I only meant that she has whole heartedly thrown herself into working for our cause,"

"You're a liar,"

The pale man laughed. "My dear, you have been trapped on an island in the middle of the Pacific for years. The idea that you think you can read other human being's expressions is hilarious, frankly."

"Fuck off,"

"So you don't want to see your friend? Well, I _am_ shocked," he said in a mocking tone. "But regardless of this, I do hope to see some improvement in your behaviour soon."

"Why should I care. You've probably killed Rose and John,"

"I can personally assure you that they are both alive and well," Doc Scratch insisted, "And as for Dave, I have heard they are concocting a number of little experiments on his body. We may be able to bring him back."

Jade froze. This had to be a bluff, there was no way they would bring back the alternate Dave over their more important personnel who had died.

"You're lying,"

"Jade, my dear, why would I lie on such a subject? A boy with the ability to time travel is an incredibly valuable asset for the Imperious Condesce, as I am sure you can understand. As is a girl with the ability to teleport," he said slyly. "Not that we are placing you under any sort of pressure, of course."

"Oh, of course not,"

Doc Scratch sighed deeply, then said, "If you do not show improvement very soon, then the Condesce is going to place you in the hands of her scientists. You do not want that, I do not want that, so can we please reach an agreement here? We are both fully aware of the fact that the only reason you have not shown any improvement is because you do not want to. Stop holding back, and I promise you that you will remain unharmed."

Jade took one of the liquorish sweets off his desk, popped one in her mouth and then immediately gagged.

"What is it with you children and liquorish?" Doc scratch frowned. "Either way, you are dismissed."

"Just like that?

"Does anything more need to be said?"

The usual errand boy came to collect her, and escorted her back to her room. Her room to Doc Scratch's office was a long one, and without conversation they grew very boring very fast.

For such a fancy looking facility, the power sure was shitty. Apparently their main generator bust, or at least those were the rumours she heard when guards spoke casually outside her door. It was never useful information, but rumours were still interesting enough.

While she may not have any idea what the Condesce was, or any of the mutants for that matter, she knew who was sleeping with who, and all the urban legends of the place.

Apparently, people had still been seeing what sounded like the spirograph creature in dark corridors and basement spaces… though that could just be imagination gone wild.

"Hey, have you ever seen the spirograph creature?" she asked the errand boy half-heartedly. Despite her previous vow not to bother talking to the staff, she still asked questions and babbled along as they walked. She was not sure whether they were the same ones, they all looked the same…

Either way, she had not been expecting a reply.

But to her surprise, he did just that, "I saw a creature a number of sleeps ago." His voice was surprisingly low and harsh, compared to the pre-recorded sounding sentences his lot usually said. "Pink and cat like, with… tentacles…"

"Huh?" Jade stopped, then jogged to catch up again. "You spoke!"

And then, within the space of a second, the lime-blood was kicked hard in the shins and forced to her knees. The errand boy pinned her to the wall, no change in his sweet face, then attempted to beat her.

Luckily, Jade knew self defence well, and for a few moments, fought back viciously, and yet the normally placid boy's skill was greater (though admittedly his strength was no match).

A familiar green crackle began to sound, and before she understood that it was the sound of her powers charging up, she was interrupted.

"Do not show your power," the boy whispered at a barely audible level. "Convince her that you are useless, and she will send you away. You will not be harmed… too much."

It took her until the second sentence for her to realise the words were being spoken directly into her mind. At this, she flinched back, and her lack of concentration allowed him to give her a blow to the face, before a set of guards sped in and grabbed the boy.

He was forced to his knees, by two guards, then another approached from behind and shot him in the skull. The serene expression never left, not even in death.

"A defective. That shouldn't happen again, Ms Harley," the guard said, presumably the leader, then motioned for another errand boy to be called in.

The replacement soon arrived, and she was sent off with him, along with two of the guards to keep an eye on her.

This errand boy showed no signs of sudden violence, but then neither had the last. It was odd, but no doubt she would hear gossip about such matters within a week.

What had it all meant? Jade would have asked the guards, but they would be of no help if she was the one asking the questions. Worth a try though.

"Hey, so what happened just then?" she demanded to the guard on her left.

She chuckled, replying, "We can't just go about telling you all the ins and outs of this place."

"Why? Let me guess, you'd have to kill me?" Jade said snarkily.

"Yes," the other guard snapped, clearly in a bad mood. The lime blood pouted, but had not expected anything else.

A sleepless night was spent following the errand boy's words: partially because she was covered in painful bruises, but mostly wondering what on earth he could have meant, and whether or not he was to be trusted.

' _What do I have to lose_?' pondered Jade. At this point, there was no where she could go. If she teleported again, she risked letting more of those creatures loose and as a result, having them killed. It was something she did not want on her conscience. Furthermore, the teleporting would inevitably be used to harm the innocent people of earth even more! No.

Then again though, could she trust the words of a so called 'defective' errand boy clone? Jade of all people knew that the Condesce had her fingers in every pie, thus this could just be some sort of strange plan to get her to show her powers again (as she almost had in the confrontation). There was also the very real risk that if she showed no signs of improvement then the Condesce would punish her, as Doc Scratch had informed her.

But… if there was a chance that she would not be harmed for not using the powers, then she would have to take it. Especially if she could be moved away from this god-awful place. Especially if it meant she could save lives.

The next morning she emerged from her prison cell, renewed in strength and determination.

With her new found firm resolve against showing any hint of her powers, they seemed to leave her almost completely. It turned out that the Condesce was a lot more impatient than Jade has previously thought, as after the second day of no improvement, Jade was taken to a room with various scientific equipment, of which she could only identify a few. What she could identify, however, seemed to involve the study of the brain and nervous system. Interesting.

Surprisingly, none so far seemed like the mad scientist type. A middle-aged woman sat her down and explained to her all the tests they would be running, how much they would hurt and how long they would take.

First, she had to strip to her underwear to check for any of the usual symptoms the mutants showed. When nothing was found, they gave her a mint coloured shift to wear and sent her for a full body scan.

The tests took several hours, and though none so far were more painful than the challenges she and Dave were given by the Handmaid, Jade still wished them along quicker. So many assorted fluid and tissue samples had been removed from her that felt she ill and restless. How she resented Doc Scratch for removing her from her island paradise.

After another hour of testing, these ones involving small electrodes, she met with a cerulean blooded doctor, who quizzed her about her powers, and her life on the island. At this point, she was so woozy she did not have it in her to not reply, let alone be snarky.

"I'd like you to take a good look at something for me please, Jade," he asked, and slid a piece of paper across the table to her.

On the page was a photo of John, looking beat down in a room similar to hers, his hair as greasy and disgusting as hers must have been with a black headband before him.

That was Rose's headband!

"I'm very sorry for this, but please understand that you must show improvement or you will end up going to the same place he will."

The man seemed genuinely sorry, and yet Jade could see something he could not – the determination in John's eyes.

"And he knows where he's going?" she said croakily.

"Yes."

That settled it. Jade supposed that answer was supposed to have scared her, but the look in John's eyes and the words of the errand boy steadied her.

* * *

"Jade," Doc Scratch said to her the next day. "The results have shown that like Mr Egbert, you have shown no signs of further potential teleportation skills,"

"John could teleport?"

"No, he has shown no skills at all, unlike you," he replied. "I guess we were mistaken. While you undoubtedly teleported twice, it seems you are now unable to call upon such powers. You are now useless to us,"

This was it.

"What are you going to do to me?"

Doc Scratch glanced at her, then sighed deeply. "While She has acknowledged that you are now a drain on time and resources, her Imperious Condesce has graciously agreed to let you and John live out the remainder of your lives in a remote village in the Colorado mountains."

Well, Jade had certainly not been expecting that.

"What?"

"We had a similar problem with some of our other charges. The Condesce would prefer to dispose of you, however as her advisor, I managed to convince her of your worth," Doc Scratch seemed pleased with himself, and for once Jade did not mind the smugness. "As with our previous charges, you are not being sent anywhere remotely pleasant, but it is better than death, no?"

"That it is," she agreed, and yet wondered what a place that was not 'remotely pleasant' would be like. After this hellhole, Jade felt prepared for anything, frankly.

The preparation for the move was short, due to her lack of personal possessions, thus she arrived at the entrance to the facility with nothing but the clothes on her back.

John stood there, waiting for her, and upon seeing him, Jade ran forwards and pressed her face into the crook of his neck, hugging each other closely. She would not have gotten so emotional normally, but John was the most normal thing she had seen in a while…

Neither said a word, knowing that She was so close behind.

They let go of one another, and turned to face the Condesce, who was seeing them off in place of Doc Scratch.

"I had thought of simply letting the two of you off without a word, however you need to be reminded of the fact that you have _not_ escaped," She grinned, Her shark like teeth unnervingly close. "Where you are going is not a haven, but a prison. You are to stay there indefinitely, and take over a position that a previous employee of ours had."

"Which is?" John asked with a small but nonetheless hopeful smile on his face.

"You will work the village shop. Boring menial work, enjoy! Oh, and by the way, that project attempting to revive that blond friend of yours ultimately failed. He is now officially dead, and had you not chosen to teleport when you did, we could have saved him, lime blood. I hope you feel guilty for losing us our time traveller." the Condesce gave them a smirk. "But don't be sad! Here, take these to remember him by, they are all he had on him."

She handed over a small bag, which contained alternate Dave's shades, along with a few scraps of paper with incomprehensible scrawls and shitty drawings on, and then turned, sashaying off back into her facility, horns barely scratching the ceiling. Somehow Jade doubted that they were given those items from the goodness of the Condesce's heart. It was probably to break their spirit.

Once out of sight, they were each given several bags for the trip, which Jade gratefully accepted to fend off thinking about how the hope she had been fed had crashed and burnt. The Condesce was right… she had inadvertently killed alternate Dave.

The plane used was the same kind that transported the mutants over to the facility. It was miserably cold once they gained altitude, yet the journey was thankfully short. Once the blankets were handed to the pair, they sat close by one another, and swapped stories of their time apart.

John was devastated to hear the news about alternate Dave, yet seemed determined to believe that their Dave was still out there somewhere. Yet he inexplicably got incredibly excited when Jade described to him the Thing she encountered in her room.

"You got visited by like, a ghost or an alien!" he claimed. Jade laughed at this, and tried to brush it off, but he insisted on milking every last drop of information on it from her, much to her amusement.

Their journey was over after an hour, and the first thing the pair noticed once their plane began to descend once more was the rain. Though it was no where near the tropical downpours Jade experienced on the island, the constant drizzle and grey clouds made the otherwise pretty enough village seem abysmally miserable.

Dotted about most villages and landing strips would have been people, yet none were out, save for one woman they saw in the distance, who sped from one house and into another at break neck speed.

Once they got off the plane, the reason was soon apparent, as a drop of rain fell on the bare skin of John's hand, resulting in cursing and a few tears of pain in the corners of his eyes.

Acid rain.

Neither Jade nor John had never seen it so strong though…

They were quickly ushered down a number of narrow walkways before reaching the shop in the centre of the village, where they were left.

"Well, I guess this is it! We're stuck in the middle of no where with flesh eating acid falling from the sky…" Jade said.

"Still," replied John. "I'd rather be here than where we were before any day of the week,"

"Pfft! Who wouldn't though?"

Being around John cheered Jade up immensely, and the prospect of being stuck in the village seemed a whole lot more doable thanks to him. Though knowing that Rose was still stuck there alone with both Doc Scrach and the Condesce made their skin crawl with fear and revulsion. They would find a way to save Rose, and that was a promise.

The house was composed of two floors: downstairs, which was the shop floor, and then the first floor, which had been turned into a moderate flat. There was very little space for even one person to live there, let alone two, but John and Jade would have to make do. The kitchen, dining room, living room and bedroom (well a sofa bed) were essentially one room, with the bathroom being a small separate room at the back housing only a toilet, sink, mirror and shower in incredibly close quarters.

At the very least, they could be thankful that their relationship was platonic enough that sharing a bed with one another would not be awkward. John commented that they would probably be able to sell the sofa bed and buy a pair of singles soon anyway. Until then, they would have to make do.

Behind the house was a small walled garden, which both were surprised to see. Apparently whatever was in the acid rain only affected people. Plants were thriving in the garden, and John noticed a number of snails milling about in the rain.

It was while he was watching a snail trek across the patio that he heard Jade call for him.

"Check for bugs," she whispered to him.

"Well there's a whole bunch of snails back there…" At her exasperated look, he grinned. "Just kidding. I'll check the bathroom and kitchen, you check the rest."

To their surprise, the only cameras they found were those downstairs in the shop to prevent stealing. Of course that could mean that they were simply well hidden, but they doubted the Condesce was the sort to do subtle.

"What is this all about, Jade?"

"I don't know! I don't know if this is a switch up or some sort of cruel joke, but… I don't know!" she giggled nervously, pushing her hair up out of her face. John noticed then how she seemed to be cradling one of the bags they were given.

"Are you alright?"

To be safe, Jade steered John into the tiny bathroom, and upon placing the toilet seat down, sat on it. John was forced to retreat into the shower area, and hoped he did not switch it on by mistake.

If they had rigged up the rest of the apartment with cameras, then it was unlikely that the Condesce would leave them some privacy in the bathroom, but it was a small comfort that the pair needed.

"What's this all about?" he asked.

Still clutching the bag close to her chest, Jade sighed, and unzipped it, then pulled out what looked like… an egg?

"There was a note. Did you hear about how they were trying to resurrect the alternate Dave? Well they did it, they finally got an embryo to form… except for some reason he's in an egg? Can't say I know why that is, but anyway, this is one of the failed experiments who's egg shell cracked by mistake. I guess they gave up on this," Jade explained.

"Who got us that then?"

"I would have said a rogue scientist, but they fear for their lives or believe wholly in the cause, so they wouldn't do something as stupid as smuggle out an egg… I think it was the errand boys," frowned Jade. "I guess they think this is useful to us somehow…"

John took the football sized egg from her and inspected it carefully, noting the small crack running along the side.

"My dad once found a broken egg in the garden, and showed me that you could fix the crack with a bit of another egg shell and some normal glue,"

"Did the bird hatch?"

"Yeah, but a cat got it,"

Jade pouted, "Nasty things. I've always been more of a dog person,"

"If you call that beast you hang around with a dog! Anyway, I think we should be able to patch this up. Wanna give it a go?"

"It could be Dave, or it could be some sort of horrible mutant crossbreed, you know that? And if it is Dave, what are we gonna do? Raise him as our own?"

"Sure!" grinned John. "Come on! It'll be fun! We can raise our own little cool kid! What else are you doing now anyway?"

His eyes then glossed over, and she knew he was thinking about that goddamn Con Air film or whatever it was called.

"It'll be just like-" he started, before Jade shoved her hand over his mouth.

"That's enough of that! No one is reminiscing about Nick Cage on my watch," she said. "Okay, we'll try to hatch this. But if it turns out to be some sort of evil bloodthirsty monster, then it's your fault, okay?"

"Okay! Don't you worry Dave, we're gonna raise you just like your bro would have wanted," John went all misty eyed, and Jade was not sure whether it was genuine emotion, sarcasm, or if he was still emotional from thinking of Con Air.

Well, John was officially in charge of getting the egg to hatch.

Maybe it would not be so bad in the village after all.

* * *

**== > Be Kanaya**

You are now Kanaya Maryam, and you are recieving your first official mission

Cross-stitch was a hobby Kanaya had recently gotten into at the recommendation of Doc Scratch. While she greatly enjoyed it, she was rather suspicious of where they acquired the materials.

Regardless of that, it was still immensely frustrating to be in The Zone finally, and then have some errand boy drag her team off to the aforementioned doctor without a words notice.

The walk was silent; Feferi had recently laid into Eridan, and so the atmosphere in their group as of late had been as awkward as ever. While she was not certain exactly as of what had transpired (for whilst the three of them were friends, Kanaya was not privy to such conversations), she had certainly been informed of the gist of the conversation by Karkat. Platonic feelings of affection had been blossoming between the pair as of late, but that was a story for another time.

As far as she knew, Eridan had finally confessed his flushed attraction to the tyrian blood, and the girl had hotly rejected him. According to Karkat, who felt somewhat responsible for Eridan's moping, Feferi had acted in a rather cruel manner, though admitted that Eridan had egged her on a lot. When she was told this, Kanaya's lips could not help but twitch into a small grin. She of all people could imagine the violet blood getting his pout on at being rejected.

Either way, the pair of seadwellers were no longer talking, and given that they were likely receiving another practice mission things were about to go downhill fast.

"Sit, sit, please," Doc Scratch said warmly as the three entered. "Would any of you like a drink?"

Predictably, Eridan took a black coffee with no sugar, part of his recent attempts to look 'dark and brooding', presumably to make Feferi feel bad for missing out on 'all a this'. It was sweet in a way, but still pathetic.

Upon noticing the atmosphere in the room, the older man chuckled something that sounded like 'ah, to be young' under his breath, and then began informing them of the reason they were summoned, "I am delighted to tell you that we have need of you for a mission today."

At this, Eridan rolled his eyes, "Wwe'we been called out for loads a missions. Wwhat makes this one any more 'delightful'?"

"Because this one is not a practice, as I shall assume you thought," smiled Doc Scratch.

"Shore-y, but have you SEA-N our team? We're not in a fit state to run a bath, let alone run a cohesive mission together. I'd reel-y love to, but the mission would inevitably sink." Feferi piped up.

"Feferi, you make it sound as though we have a choice in the matter," the Jade blood laughed. The three had seemed to embrace the fact that there was no escaping the retainment organisation, and were attempting to make the most of it. While they would gladly leave if there was an opportunity, Feferi's position as heiress, along with their apparent compliance gave them certain luxuries.

"Indeed, Ms Maryam," Doc Scratch said. "I expect the three of you to have worked out these issues, and be ready in a day. We need you to place a bug in one submarine, while destroying another. It sounds fanciful, yet here we are. I also presume that you do not know about the flooding?"

"You would be right," Feferi said, eyes cautiously narrowed.

"We decided we no longer liked how we are being told to run by the governments of the world, and so…"

"Like you were followwin' them before…" Eridan muttered, thinking back to their time in the village, and the horror that had happened there. If _that_ was government approved, then he was moving to Mars.

"… thus, we melted a number the land based glaciers on this planet, releasing a huge tidal wave that swept over much of the existing landmass.

'After we flooded the planet, world leaders have been incredibly wary of sending messages via any method but hand. They figured out how easily we were hacking into their systems, so now are sending each other their plans via submarines, and it has worked so far, but they forget that the sea is Her realm."

"Wwhat, really?" Eridan snorted. "This just sounds like some dumb film plot,"

"You forget that a _lot_ of people have died recently, and everyone is panicking. Brilliant ideas and awful ideas come out in such times, though this could have worked on another enemy. Regardless, they are sending three six-man submarines from India to the US. Two are the second most recent model, and the third which we are bugging is the latest. It's incredibly fast, and both will shoot any piece of technology that comes within twenty kilometres. They are not expecting a pair of mutants who can breathe underwater to ambush the submarine, however, so you are the first method we shall attempt. Feferi, you are planting the bug in one, and Eridan, you are going to be destroying another. The third we will leave intact. They should assume their bugged boat is the only safe vessel if all goes to plan."

"And me?" Kanaya asked.

"You will send out the commands from here. There is no need to send you out to the field, you are too valuable,"

"But couldn't someone else equally do that? I understand how Eridan and Feferi's positions are essential, but surely there are others with better experience for my position,"

The man pondered for a while, then replied, "You make a point. Perhaps someone with more experience would be better for this job. You will watch the mission from beside your replacement while it is taking place for experience instead. Your mentor will provide you with more details as you prepare this evening. You are dismissed."

The three got up to leave the room, and to their surprise there was someone else waiting outside, and a human nonetheless, well according to Eridan's flirting. Kanaya pushed past the royal bloods and saw... saw...

There was a girl sat on the bench, with pale, freckle-splattered skin, and a narrow face framed by platinum-blonde hair. She was of the same blood caste as Eridan as far as Kanaya could tell, and gods but she was attracted to her.

Her sharp features shifted into an amused smirk as she looked upon the three mutants before her.

"You look normal," she said, addressing Kanaya. "Well as normal as a mutant gets. Could you tell me what sort of a mood the creep in there is?"

Being as nervous and flustered as the poor girl was, Kanaya initially stammered out a reply in her native Russian, before correcting herself, "Um, a good one, I would say?"

The girls expression soured immediately. "I was so hoping you would not say that. Thank you anyway."

"Come in Ms Lalonde." Doc Scratch called. Lalonde's face fell further, before she went into his office. Kanaya heard a 'welcome Rose' before the door was shut.

Rose Lalonde was her name.

"Wwhoa, Kan," Eridan sneered.

"What?" the jade blood replied.

"You're lookin' flushed, is all," he snickered, "Glad to see you're finally gettin' over Wris, on account a her bein' mine an' all,"

Kanaya pouted, looking down her nose at the somewhat shorter Eridan. "I got over Vriska quite a while ago, but regardless of that, she belongs to no one. There isn't a being horrid enough on the earth to warrant Vriska's affections anyway,"

"Wwhoa wwhoa wwhoa, don't go waxin' all black on her, that's my job,"

She gave him a cold look, before saying, "Don't trip on all those 'w's, Eridan,"

Perhaps the jade blood now understood why Feferi flipped out so badly at Eridan...

Instead of training with the seadwellers, Kanaya resumed her cross stitching, though albeit in a somewhat more aggressive manner than before. The other two members of her team had gotten so much quicker and stronger, though certainly not more mature.

After a series of warm up exercises, they left to to practice with some new equipment made to boost their speed when underwater. This was something Kanaya could not watch, and so she was returned to the dining hall, where a petulant Karkat sat, joined by Terezi.

Their banter was a comforting noise for some reason, and Kanaya immediately joined the pair. The loss of both Vriska's and Nepeta's teams made the room feel so empty, but the sounds of bickering always filled the room.

"Kanaya!" Terezi sang as she heard the girl approach. While she was still uncertain as to how Terezi managed to 'smell' who she was, she was firmly resolved to never ask, as Nepeta asked a similar question, and it ended with the olive blood getting licked... humorous to watch, but Kanaya did not want to experience it for herself. "How's feferidan going?"

"They are still in the ignoring each other stage," she smiled while sitting. The use of merged couple names was something that had started as an ironic thing, but had soon ended up becoming pretty much sincere.

"Well you'll be fucking dreaming for that when they reach the constant snide remarks stage," Karkat commented.

"What, like you two?" Kanaya commented with a wry smile.

"Well you can go fuck yourself with a piece of rock candy. Here I am giving five star quality fucking advice, and you throw it right back at my face!"

The jade blood chuckled, she had long since got used to the grumpy mutant's ways, and knew he meant her no harm by the rambling.

"Oh please, Karkles, she's completely correct, you can't deny it!" leered Terezi.

"How has your work been going?" Kanaya asked the pair.

"Other than the humans we abducted before the floods, nothing very interesting. Just bodyguard-ing Doc Scratch as he goes to talk to old people usually.

"What? Abducting?"

"We weren't allowed to tell anyone, Terezi you fuckwit," Karkat sighed. "Just so this goes on record, this had fuck all to do with me. If someone gets beat up, it's gonna be Terezi,"

"Aww, my knight in shining armour!" Terezi gasped, mockingly swooning. "But yeah, we had to go with Doc Scratch and abduct a bunch of kids. They didn't even look remotely like mutants! Weird if you ask me,"

At this, Kanaya frowned. "What happened, what did they look like?"

"Umm, it was a while ago, but I'll try to remember... well two of them were blond and really pale, and the other two had black hair and mid-brown skin. Girl and a boy for each of those categories... almost like they were related or something? They looked similar."

"Terezi, you're gonna get into trouble, don't blame me when Gamzee is set on you,"

"Oh shut up , Karkat! Anyway, the blond guy was one of those try hard cool kids, really cute though, um, oh yeah, the two tan kids, Karkat is totally having black feelings for the dude-"

"Terezi, would you cut that out! I don't have any black feelings for him, fucking drop it already you absolute moron,"

"Hang on, what was that about Gamzee?" Kanaya asked, having just registered what Karkat had said a while back.

Terezi paled at this, it seemed that Gamzee was a topic she was not happy to speak on.

"Terezi?" she prompted again. Coming to think of it, she had not seen the stoner for a month or two now.

"They ran out of sopor slime a while back, and since then he's changed to say the fucking least," Karkat's expression was grim. "I guess I'm glad he's no longer drugged up off his mind, but I'd never have thought he'd turn into... whatever, just drop it, Kanaya. I shouldn't have brought it up,"

She pursed her lips. Eridan would probably know what was happening seeing as Karkat and he were 'best bros', but she did not want to be seen as someone who would go behind her friend's backs for gossip.

Though then again…

* * *

**== > Be Vriska**

You are now Vriska Serket.

"You're way fucking OP, Vrithka," Sollux declared.

"She's what, lasers?" the Handmaid asked, confused at the term.

"He says I'm over-powered, but he's just jealous," Vriska laughed as she inspected the face before her in the small mirror shard on the wall.

"You _are_ OP though. I don't get why you get all the fanthy powerth. You're not even a low blood, you don't detherve to have thothe powerth,"

"Sollux, you know as well as I do why this is happening!" Vriska sneered. "Being able to control peoples mind's is a lot different than being able to set shit on fire and you know it,"

She walked away from the mirror and struck a pose before the three trolls behind her, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Being able to change peoples perception of the world around them is more powerful than anything you could do,"

Sollux merely glared at her from behind his glasses, then returned to messing about on his phone.

"Anyway, how do I look?"

For Tavros and Sollux (though earlier it had not worked), where Vriska's voice was coming from, was a pale young woman absolutely smattered in freckles. No horns or yellow sclera in sight. Definitely not Vriska. But then the facial structure was the same, as was the body type… all that had really changed was her colours pallette.

Her ginger hair seemed unnaturally red, though the bunch of them had not seen a hair colour other than black in so long they had almost forgotten what other hair colours looked like.

"Not bad, but, uhh, you're gonna, well… stick out a bit,"

Vriska frowned, "But they'll have images on their files of what I used to look like."

"Oh yeah,"

"If you're gonna go for the ginger look, then you need more thunburn," Sollux sighed. "I can tell you're from the UK,"

"Like you went outside often enough to know what sunburn was,"

"We actually have thun in the thtateth though. I know it mutht be very confuthing for you poor Britth to actually experienthe it,

"Go fuck yourself, Sollux,"

Closing her eyes, Vriska focused for a few seconds. After a no more than a minute of this, blotches of red, painful looking sunburn appeared liberally on her shoulders and face.

"Better?"

Sollux nodded, "Yep,"

"I wonder how it looks in the, um, sunlight," Tavros said, before the three of them gave each other a look and rushed for the door.

"Hey!" The three stopped in their tracks and turned to the Handmaid. "You can't all three go, one of you needs to stay with me."

The three of them shuffled awkwardly on their feet before deciding that Tavros and Vriska would go up first, then he would be swapped for Sollux.

They sprinted for the exit, excited at the chance to test out her new powers and get out of the dingy tunnels.

Before leaving, Vriska made sure no one was nearby, then hopped out onto the hard soil, relishing the sound it made. It was different to the sound of the damn tunnels, and in her eyes that made it wonderful.

"Well, it looks pretty good," Tavros shrugged, "But, uhh, not as nice as… um…"

"Not as nice as what, Toreadork?" the blue-blood grinned, seeing where his comment was going.

"Nothing… um. Hey, so, where did your horns go?"

Her face fell a fraction, but the smile did not go. Instead, she grabbed his hand and placed it on a patch of air over her head.

At Tavros' suddenly baffled expression, Vriska laughed heartily.

"It's, it's like I can feel, there's something, there? But, I uh, my brain is telling me, there isn't?" he stammered.

"That's interesting," Vriska said, "I wasn't sure what would actually happen if they were touched."

"It's pretty amazing. I wish I could, could do something like that." Tavros muttered with a starstruck expression. "Hey, um, do you think, do you think you'd be, uhh, able to do the same thing, but, ah, for me and Sollux and HM?"

"Pfft, who are you speaking to? Of course I could! I'm Vriska, remeeeeeeeember?" She gave him a lopsided smile. "But, it will come at a cost,"

"Huh? Why… it's, not like you can spend the money or anything…"

"Not that kind of cost you moron," Vriska said, rolling her eyes. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I probably could, but not right now,"

"No, what cost did you mean?" he asked, oddly attentive.

Her mouth curved into a sharp smile, and she leaned close to him.

"How about a kiss?"

In the space of a second, Tavros' face was lit with a deep flush. No matter how confident and strong he had gotten while she was gone, Vriska could still reduce him to a flushed wreck with a few words.

"Umm, why would, would you want that?"

"I wonder?"

"Vriska… I, I mean, I still haven't really, uhh, forgotten that you killed Aradia. I watched you kill her. That… that's not something you, you forget easily. I'm sorry, I cant," he sighed.

Eyebrows drawing together into a frown, Vriska turned away, staring out at the glittering expanse of ocean. She dropped the disguise and noticed the sudden grey splodge appear on the truck's paint job beside her in her peripheral vision.

Silence settled heavily, something that Vriska was not used to around Tavros. With him, the gaps between conversation were comfortable, yet the current silence felt awkward.

And yet neither could think of anything to say.

A beetle happened to wander within their vision, and both gratefully fixed their vision on the creature. It appeared to scurry about aimlessly, before hurrying under the truck.

"Sometimes I forget, what I used to look like," Tavros commented.

"Really?"

"Yeah, well uh, we've been like this for what, uhh, maybe five years now? And, it's not like we have photos, or anything. I remember what I, uhh, looked like when I was a baby, or a toddler, but here… I don't know, it's stupid, sorry,"

Vriska pondered, then said, "No, I know what you mean. This place gets to you."

"You… this look suits you better, than um, being a human,"

"I suit having grey skin and horns, instead of looking like a normal human?" she gasped, pretending to be insulted.

"No, you looked nice, um, when you were a human too,"

"So I don't look pretty _now_ , is that what you're saying?"

"No! I mean, you look pretty whatever you look like...!" Tavros suddenly realised what he had said, and clasped a hand over his mouth. "F-forget I said that, um, yeah,"

"No, I don't think I will," smiled Vriska.

They sat in silence again, though this time it was comfortable.

Vriska looked over at Tavros, and thought back to the first time she had seen him. He had been a quivering little boy walking off the bus, with barely any grey on him.

Placing a hand on his, she focused intensely, placing her space hand on her temple. After half a minute, his arm turned a somewhat ashy shade of brown.

They laughed, and Vriska broke the 'spell'.

"Looks like, you need more, uh, practice," he said.

"Pfft, as if! I was just giving you a taster, like I said, if you want the full deal then you have to pay the price," Vriska winked, knowing full well that Tavros had said he felt uncomfortable with the idea. Oh well, it would simply give her longer to practice. No one refused Vriska!

Though… Tavros _had_ just done it then…

They admired the new control she had over her body, before Tavros left, and Sollux came up to nitpick on the details. It was not adoration, but it was still helpful, and Vriska appreciated it greatly though did not express it.

Outside of viewing herself in a mirror, Vriska was unable to observe the changes on her body, which was something she was apprehensive about. Looking down at her arm, she saw only grey, though she knew that to anyone else it would appear cream coloured and freckled.

The pair stayed out until the sun began to set, bickering and teasing one another. Collecting more of the cacti had been a request from the Handmaid, and so they quickly did that before the cold set in.

Lights from the village glittered in the distance while they worked. They had found the cactus flesh to be tasty enough, though none were certain as to whether they genuinely liked it, or if it was simply because they had not eaten fresh food in so long.

They ate it grilled on a slab of rock heated over a fire, though this was obviously something that had to be done outside. Two of them would keep an eye on the fire, and then the handmaid and another member of Team Eight would sit in the tunnel system to keep her company and bring food.

That night, Vriska and Tavros sat under the stars, watching the flames crackle, whilst the juices from the cacti hissed and sizzled at the heat. Sollux had managed to hit a small mammalian creature with his optic blasts, and so that joined the cactus. None knew what animal it was though. Perhaps a mutated fox.

Vriska had shown to be surprisingly good at preparing the meat. In a matter of minutes, the skin had been removed. She shrugged it off as being something she had learnt from her Fatal Online Role Play, though the others doubted this due to the lack of showing off. There was nothing to be done though, Vriska was refusing to talk, and she was the only one with mind powers.

Flipping over the flesh and fruit from the cacti was challenging, and involved using a pair of twigs as chopsticks. The meat was a lot easier, however, seeing as it could just be stabbed. While Vriska was doing this, she noticed Tavros staring up at the sky with a small frown on his face.

She said nothing however, and let the soft sound of the waves breaking on the shore fill the air. Once done with turning the food, she asked, "What's up?"

To her surprise, he did not jump a little as he usually did when she addressed him suddenly.

"There aren't any planes," he said.

"So what?" she shrugged, her mouth full of some previously cooked cactus fruit.

"We haven't, uhh, seen a single plane or even a trail since, well, before we escaped,"

"Yeah? Maybe they just don't fly over here. We _are_ in the middle of no where, idiot,"

Tavros frowned. "No, there were planes passing overhead even when we were, uh, when we were in the Retainment Organisation. I don't see why there would, be ones there, and not here,"

"The Handmaid said that the Condesce flooded the world didn't she? I guess it fucked up everything really badly," It was the answer neither of them wanted to say, but hell _someone_ had to say it.

Taking another moment to look up at planes that no longer flew overhead, Tavros then began to collect some of the now cooked food, and set it aside for when Sollux returned for more.

"Vriska?"

She placed the bone from the leg she had finished eating in a large jar with the rest of the bones (they had planned to make a broth). "Yeah?"

"Theres, uhh, something I've been wanting to ask for a while…"

Huh! "I don't get periods anymore if you were wondering how we didn't leave a bloody trail behind us," she smirked, purposefully trying to make him uncomfortable, though the fact was true. The Handmaid was informed her that the mutation had changed her whole body over time, and that now she was less human, the periods would go. Not that Vriska was at all complaining…

"Oh! No, um, that's not at all, uhh, what I was going to ask. I just, wanted to ask about… about why you killed Aradia,"

Vriska stiffened immediately.

"What?"

"Why did you do it?"

"As if you'd listen to me if I said!"

Pushing her fringe from her eyes, Vriska sat up a little straighter. "I guess Sollux told you, huh?"

Tavros nodded, then said, "I wanted to hear it with my own ears,"

He seemed different, confident; more like the man she saw at the President's ball than the boy he was usually was.

"Well… it's complicated. I could lie and claim that the Condesce made me do it, but at the end of the day… it was my choice," At the hardening of Tavros' expression, she then added, "I didn't kill her for fun, though the fight was a fucking blast. I was told that if I killed her, then I'd get us our assorted missing limbs back…"

Of course Tavros would then start staring at her robotic arm after that realisation. It was fabulous as fuck looking, but still, he did not need to be so obvious about it. The arm was so beautifully made that Vriska forgot she had it most of the time.

"So you killed a person, just for my legs and your arm?"

" _Just_ your legs and my arm? Who was it who sobbed into me and _begged_ for me to get them their legs back again? Huh? _Because I'm preeeeeeeetty fucking sure it wasn't Sollux_!" Vriska hissed back.

"No, I'm sorry but, I can't understand. You can't trade a life for, uhh, some limbs. That's… I don't get it, Vriska,"

"The Handmaid, she said it would be okay for all parties in the end. I asked her how it would be okay for Aradia, and she just smiled and told me to 'mind my potatoes', but she didn't seem at all upset at the death of her granddaughter or whatever Aradia is to her. She's a time traveller, it sounds crazy but it's obvious. There's so much crazy in our live already though, so it's not that surprising really…"

Tavros then thought for a while, and they sat in silence until the fire was nothing more than embers.

"Tell me, about your family, Vriska," he asked, his voice dangerously low.

"Why should I?"

"Vriska, I'm trying to fucking understand you here, uhh, so could you not be obnoxious for once in your life?"

The cerulean blood scowled, then said, "Fine. But I'm only telling you because I want to. I don't really know where to start?"

"Wherever is comfortable for you,"

"Well my mum had me when she was young, and my dad left so she and my grandma raised me. My grandma was then killed when I was just a toddler, by who I now know to be your grandfather, so fuck him I guess? The Condesce told me that they used to be lovers, so yeah the more you know, though kinda too much info from her there, but it makes sense…

'Anyway, because our grandparents were involved with one another, my family had to live among green and teal bloods, and not in the nice parts either. Inter-caste relationships are really frowned upon, or they were more so back then anyway. And because of this shunning, my family couldn't get more… traditional jobs," This was it. "We sold blood on the black market, and body parts if the person died. We siphoned,"

Tavros said nothing, and kept his expression blank. He was clearly expecting her to continue the story.

"Uh, so I would go out and lure people to my mum when I was as young as five since my grandma couldn't do it anymore, and together my mum and I would tie down the victim and siphon off as much blood as possible. If they struggled too much then they would sometimes bleed to death, which is where the body parts would come in. Blood medicine especially popular amongst people of Gamzee's blood caste, which is why we never got arrested."

At this, Tavros nodded. It made sense. While low-bloods tended not to take part in the illegal siphoning trade due to the high costs of the blood (not to mention they were often targeted), it was something many had heard of, especially in the more run down districts.

Bronze and olive blood were used as aphrodisiacs, though allegedly violet blood was the most potent, yet that was incredibly rare. Indigo blood was also popular due to its alleged strength boosting powers, and the skills they apparently gave you got stranger as you got through the rest of the caste.

There were hushed whispers that the blood of a fuchsia empress could heal any ailment and even bring the dead back to the world of the living. None had managed to siphon a fuchsia of their blood however, so they would remain speculation.

All bullshit of course, but the placebo effect was a powerful thing.

"We've always been protected by the Zahhak family. I think my mum and Equius' dad were BFFs or something, but regardless of that, it gave us an extra level of security. When my sister was a toddler though, my mum decided that she needed to get a normal job, and so she managed to. But it wasn't enough money, so I continued to lure creeps in, and then siphon them. I wasn't very good at first though, I got it wrong several times and most of my victims died. I've got a lot of deaths on my hands. That's where all the ghosts came from that Aradia sent after me, if you remember all that bullshit,"

"You, uhh, were siphoning people when you just five?" he said softly.

"You don't need to sound so fucking upset. I'm fine! I lived through it. We survived. You've got to do shitty things sometimes,"

"Did you want to do it?"

Vriska looked at him oddly then laughed, "You think I had a choice? For the first ten years of my life it was the only way we could make money! If I wasn't capturing people then it would be me on the siphoning table! And it was several times! There will be countless pricks out there with my 'lucky' blood sitting in their stomachs as they try to hook up or do well on their tests or what-fucking-ever,"

It took her a few moments to notice that the warmth on her clenched hand wasn't just the heat from the fire.

"Don't look at me like that," she snarled, moving her hand away from his. "I don't want your pity. If the only reason you care about me now is because of this then I don't want any of it,"

"I think I understand you a bit better now," he said, and glanced at her arm, expecting to see puncture marks.

"The scars went when I went grey. Sorry to disappoint you," she frowned.

"I'm not disappointed,"

"So what tragic dark secrets do I get from you now?" she said mockingly, yet he looked at her with such kindness and understanding that she found all the bitterness melt away, and all that was left was a deep rooted sadness.

A tear snaked its way down her eyelid, down the cheek and corner of the mouth, then reached the chin and dropped to splat against the dry earth. Another soon joined it and before she knew it, Tavros had pulled her into his warm embrace.

"Y-you low-bloods are so fucking warm, what's with that?" she said between sobs.

"I don't know," he replied softly.

"I don't even know why I'm crying, what the fuck?"

Tavros pressed his cheek into her hair, an awkward affair when both parties had horns. "Don't worry about it, it's okay, I've got you,"

"Why are you being nice to me?" she demanded. "I'm a fucking bitch to you. I paralyzed you for fucks sake! I torment you every day!"

"You got me the ability to walk back twice. You visited me every day at the, uhh, hospital, and made sure they looked after me. You're definitely a bitch, um, no doubt about that. But you're a bitch that cares for me, even if you're, you're too tsundere to show it,"

She wiped her eyes with the back of a hand, "Tsundere? You fucking weeaboo, Nitram!"

"What can I say?"

"That still doesn't explain why you're being nice to me. I killed your friend, that kind of shit doesn't just go!"

He thought about it, then replied, "No. It doesn't. But I think you know what you did was wrong. You've suffered enough,"

"No I haven't! You're too fucking soft!"

"Yeah, I am. One of us needs to be; you're too proud to show any,"

Vriska opened her mouth to protest again, but was stopped when the orange blood leant in and kissed her quickly on the mouth.

His eyes went wide, "Oh, god, uhh, actually that, um, probably wasn't the, best idea,"

Vriska eyes crinkled with amusement. "You just kissed me!"

"I, uhh, yeah I guess, I umm…" he stammered, then closed his eyes as Vriska leant in for another kiss. This time, he did not leap away with embarrassment, and instead wrapped the arms he held around her midriff tighter.

Unlike Vriska, Tavros had not had a whole lot of experience with kissing, and hoped that he was not embarrassing her too much. Though from the little noises she made, he assumed she was enjoying it.

His lips were a lot softer that hers, mostly because she bit hers too much, and without her trademark blue lipstick there was nothing to stop them getting cracked and dry. Though seeing as her face was still damp from the tears, dry lips was hardly an issue.

It was strange how quickly they got used to it, but after only a few seconds they both felt stupidly comfortable and content. Tavros had received only one bad kiss, and so made sure not to replicate anything from that train wreck.

"Normal smooches are a lot different to hate smooches," she commented in a somewhat dazed manner, then realised that it was probably not the time or place to be talking about kissing other guys.

They leant on one another and looked out at the ocean that had flooded the landscape. It was a lot more bearable out in the cold with Tavros to lean on, and though Vriska was not sure on what had just happened, she was at least thankful for that.

* * *

Fingers tugged nervously at the hemline of the boilersuit sleeves, before Vriska unzipped the top half of it, and tied it round her waist. It would take more effort to project the illusion onto her whole arms as opposed to just her hands, but then getting overheated would not do either.

"You thure you don't want me any clother?" Sollux asked as Vriska prepared to head into the town the next day.

"Yes, mum, I'm sure," she snorted. "I'll be fine. Now get hidden, I'd rather not have to find somewhere to dump your dead body,"

"Charming,"

Vriska winked at the gold blood then turned and began her walk to the village in the distance. As far as she could tell it was still early, no more than nine in the morning going by the suns position. Their sleeping patterns were out of sync, resulting in going to bed at seven in the evening, and waking at five in the morning or earlier. Sollux reflected, however, that it was probably better than his previous habit of sleeping from seven in the _morning_ until five in the _evening_. Even Vriska had to admit that was a fucked up sleeping pattern for a school kid.

Even though the village was still a great distance away, nerves began to twist Vriska up in knots.

'Pull yourself together! You're Vriska Serket, not a snivelly crybaby,' she told herself mentally.

It was time to head into the village.


	7. Juggalos and camping supplies

**== > Be Gamzee**

Error: you cannot be Gamzee.

**== > Be someone talking to Gamzee instead!**

You are now Karkat Vantas.

He knew he must keep very still while he waited.

Though he was by no means flighty or easily scared, Karkat was struggling to suppress his fight, flight or freeze instincts as he held the gaze of the creature before him - the creature once known as Gamzee Makara.

It was a common stereotype that purple bloods were bulky and thuggish, even without all the urban legends about them snapping and going on murderous rampages being taken into account. The purple blood in question had always seemed very peaceful compared to the other members of his caste, but then he had been on the sopor slime near constantly back in those days. Approximately two months prior, the Retainment Organisation had run out of the sopor slime (though Karkat had his suspicions about that), and though the effects were not immediately obvious, over the period of three weeks, Gamzee's personality underwent a complete turn around from strange but harmless to fucking terrifying.

Puberty had turned the boy into a frighteningly tall and emancipated mutant, with disproportionately large hands and feet, each finger and toe capped with a long, talon like nail. His eyes, once soft, were now intense and focussed, and the eerie grin on his face never once reached them... though perhaps that was for the best. Karkat knew not what would bring this version of Gamzee joy, but whatever it was, he doubted it was anything good.

How he missed the simpler days before all this mutant nonsense.

The Condesce had brought Karkat in to attempt to pacify the purple blood between her missions for him, but it was a feat easier said than done. Not that he could refuse, of course.

After what felt like an age, Gamzee cocked his head at the much smaller mutant, for Karkat had asked him how 'his dumb ass was doing'.

"Oh look. _It's my good brother Karkat all motherfucking up and at 'em in here_. Did the fish bitch send you? _Because wicked and mirthful though I be, I fucking doubt you came here of your own motherfucking accord, not to my domain,_ " the monster rumbled, his voice alternating between quiet and soft, to livid tones dripping with energy and force, as IR had when he was possessed by the tyrian fog. Well, at least he had not dropped his ridiculously over the top usage of his favourite profanity; that would be a whole new dimension of crazy on top of the insanity that already existed.

This thing was just like a dangerous wild animal. One had to remain calm and show no trace of fear, or basically he had to act in the opposite manner to how he would have with the Gamzee of old.

Karkat ran his tongue over his lips, then said gently, "Gamzee, I came here because I wanted to, why can't you get it through your bulgemunchingly thick skull?"

After another lengthy pause as Gamzee processed the question.

"Honk. _Honk_ ," he said as his grin widened. Great.

"Uhh, so have you been sent on anymore missions?"

At this the skin surrounding Gamzee's eyes crinkled slightly, and it was as terrifying a sight as Karkat had imagined.

"Sure have. _Today I got my motherfucking massacre on_ ,"

At this, Karkat involuntarily flinched back, prompting the purple blood to lope forwards towards him, though he stopped in his tracks once Karkat stopped and regained his confident look.

"What?"

"What? _I said I went all about and killed a bunch of motherfuckers trying to stop this mirthful endeavour we're being motherfucking taken on_. I crushed them all with my bare hands and clubs. _And painted a wicked motherfucking rainbow with their blood_. Fucking dirt bloods getting such miraculous colours up out of their veins is a sin but I can't change that. _Honk_ ,"

"What? Why are you smiling? What the fuck is wrong with you!" Karkat growled, accidentally stepping back until Gamzee began to advance once more. Fuck.

"It's who I am, brother. _It's the down roots of my motherfucking calling and being_. Culling people is in my blood,"

"Says who?"

_"The motherfucking fish bitch woke me up_. Awakened something deep inside me,"

Shuffling back once more, Karkat realised with horror that his back was up against the wall. Thankfully, the door was only five or so metres away (hugely lucky considering the immense size of the room), but that was still five metres too far. One of Gamzee's watermelon sized fists softly rested itself on the wall next to his head. A quiet but very powerful threat. Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

**== > Fight back!**

Karkat cannot move

**== > With words!**

Letting his fear get the better of him, Karkat spat, "Snap out of it, you fuckwit!"

Gamzee's second fist slammed down, the impact making Karkat's head lurch forward then smack back onto the hard wall. "That fucking hurt!"

" _I know_ ,"

"Fuck, Gamzee, please just stop this! Don't you feel at all bad for killing all those people?" he pleaded before he felt the clowns hand begin to snake around his throat. Tears began to prickle at the corners of his eyes. Not again damn it! This kept on happening! Every fucking time he came down, and he was getting fed up. No progress was being made with Gamzee, and he seriously doubted that any progress would ever be made.

"Don't you get it? _They were the motherfucking dredges of this society, up and tying us down, stopping all of us from the righteous miracles you motherfucking deserve_. Even you, you rust blo-" and then Gamzee stopped completely still, the slowly tightening grip on Karkats neck pausing.

His finger ran almost affectionately up Karkat's soft cheek, wiping up the tear that had snuck down, and then inspected it carefully, though how the clown could see any amount of detail in the water drop with the abysmal lighting conditions in Gamzee's room was beyond Karkat.

"You... _You dirty motherfucking mutant_!" Gamzee cried, his usual rumbling voice being replaced with a shriek that was loud even on his more intense verbal alternations.

"We're all mutants here! _You're_ a mutant, you nookfondling asswipe!" Karkat hissed as the grip on his throat suddenly tightened again. "Or... did you f-forg... et tha... t..."

Gamzee stepped away a little from Karkat, still pinning the mutant blood against the wall, but so that he had space to move. Then with only a small sneer of disgust, he drove his fist into Karkats stomach, winding the poor boy intensely, and only quickening asphyxiation.

Rapid footsteps from the corridor alerted Gamzee to the guards approaching, which served only to increase the battering he was giving.

Pshoooooooo!

A dart flew through the air and embedded itself deep into Gamzee's neck. Within seconds, the massive troll toppled to the ground, releasing Karkat. Like his attacker, Karkat fell quickly to the ground, wheezing and coughing as he tried to get air back in his lungs, despite the pain felt from breathing. The guards hoisted him up into a wheelchair and a pair sped him off to a doctor while the others made sure Gamzee was securely locked up in his room. Not only could he no longer fit in the capsule beds, but for the safety of the other mutants it was best for everyone if he slept alone.

Treatment for Karkat was quick and methodical. Choking was very much a simple injury these days, if one compared it to the other cases the doctors received. Though Karkat had certainly received worse in his time as one of Doc Scratch's bodyguards, the betrayal from being so badly injured by Gamzee added emotional pain to his badly bruised ribs and sore throat.

Gamzee's first episode had been when he and Terezi had stayed behind to train. They had already run out of sopor over a month prior, and on the day it ran out, they removed all mutant contact with him aside from his team members. It was decided that they would be safest, yet that did nothing to help the teal blood.

As per usual, she was taunting him with one of her comments about justice this and punishment that, when he snapped. All the bullshit the Condesce fed him had finally soaked in evidently, and he decided that he no longer needed to put up with ' _a lowly motherfucking teal_ ', barred the door and stomped on her chest and body until she coughed up blood, which he then used to paint 'hOnk :o)' all about on the floor. When the guards finally got in, Terezi had three broken ribs and fractures on both arms, as well as countless nasty bruises and grazes. Thanks to stem cells, nanobots and her status as a mutant, she recovered quickly, but remained angry and scared of her team mate.

Since then, he had been banned from their training sessions, and was taught exclusively by the Condesce, for she alone could handle him. She then had the wonderful idea of sending Karkat in to do her job, which evidently was going swimmingly.

Having no stem cells to fall back on, Karkat could only opt for more traditional treatments. He found it darkly funny how his injuries were no where near as bad as Terezi's had been, yet it would take him longer to heal. Great.

After being escourted back to the hall, he found the room near empty. In the corner, presumably moping to himself was Eridan. At Karkat's entrance, however, he perked up a little.

"Hey, Kar. I sawed you some food," he greeted, though the monotonous sense to his words did not leave.

"Thanks, I'm not that hungry though..." he said with a hiss of pain as he lowered himself down into the chair.

Eridan shot him a concerned look. "You okay? Your muscles hurtin' or something?"

Oh yeah, he had told them a that he had been having solo training with one of the other tutors.

"Uh, kinda yeah," he replied, then ripped off a piece of bread to dip in his soup. Damn the food was good. Chicken broth, with pasta, vegetables and small pieces of chicken in was on the menu that day, and though slightly cold was still delicious. Karkat took back what he had said, he was starving.

He then noticed he was being watched, and turned to see Eridan staring at his cheeks. Fuck, he thought, and scrubbed at his face with his sleeve in case any tear marks remained. "You're being unnaturally quiet. The fuck do you want?"

"You hawe a bruise formin' on your cheek, Kar,"

Oh.

"Must have got it when I fell over," he shrugged, but the look he received from the violet blood said very clearly that he was not buying the story.

"Did you try to talk to Gamzee again?" he asked in haughty tone. "I fuckin' wwarned you no good wwould come a it,"

"I haven't got a fucking choice you fuckwrangling idiot! Jeez," he said, and aggressively continued eating. "Why you so fucking concerned anyway? I'll live,"

"'cause you're my bro, Kar. I care about you an' all that crap,"

"Fuck, don't you dare start hitting on me too, got it fish brain?" he snorted, yet Eridan did not appreciate the joke and shot him an annoyed look.

"Okay, first a all, I did not appreciate that in the least. An' second, I do not hit on eweryone,"

"Eridan," Karkat said with a heavy sigh. "As your friend, god knows why I am, I can confirm to you that you do indeed fucking hit on everything that moves,"

"Hmpf," Eridan got up to leave, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Hey man come on, calm down,"

"You wwere the one wwho said, an' I quote, there are plenty more fish in the sea," he said once sat down again.

Karkat pouted, "Well, yeah, but I didn't expect you to hit on half the people left, you fishguzzler,"

At this, Eridan laughed good naturedly, "I can't help that eweryone here is fuckin' hot an' all,"

"I thought you didn't like 'land dwwellers', or is this just some crazy rebound shit?"

Okay, that one may have been too far, but it was true, and caused Eridan to sigh, "Kar you're testin' my patience there,"

"Hey, you're not the one who has to spend fucking hours trying to calm your sorry ass down after you get rejected by yet another person."

"Okay, fair enough," he shrugged, then flopped onto the desk, hiding his face dramatically in his ever present scarf. "Seriously though, wwhere am I trippin' up here, wwhy does eweryone find me repulsiwe,"

"Uh, let's see, probably because you pull shit like that?"

The royal blood looked up at Karkat in his typical over-the-top manner and ignored his advice, "It's the glasses, isn't it? I should a knowwn,"

"Oh my fucking god..." Karkat muttered. How Eridan managed to ignore his advice on why he was considered unattractive every single time was insane. Looks wise, the violet blood was undeniably stunning: his face was long, thin and elegant, albeit a little alien-like due to the mutations (aka shark-like teeth, grey skin and overly angular features). But looks were not the problem; he was loosing marks on his personality. As Karkat had told Eridan dozens of times, a good face meant nothing if the person behind it was rotten, unless you were looking for a cheap one night fling, and though the violet blood may try desperately to give the impression that he did not care for commitment anymore, it was painfully obvious that he was into long fairy tale romances.

But whatever, getting Eridan into a relationship was not what Karkat was there for.

"I'm gonna say this once last time, you thick skulled hornlicker. Your flouncy demanding attitude is what's keeping you single. That and the fact that we're in a fucking carehome for mutants, so it's not like anyone in their right minds would even be getting into that shit,"

"Sol did," Eridan mumbled darkly.

Not this shit again.

"Yeah well Sollux is a cocky dimwit, the less said about him the better,"

"Heh," Eridan smiled. "Thanks, Kar. You alwways knoww howw to make me feel better,"

"The most bullshit talent in the world if you ask me," the mutant blood grumbled. "Out of the people left here if we exclude Gamzee, the only ones you've not flirted with are Kanaya and I,"

"Wwell you an' Kan are my friends, I don't wwanna mess that up like I did with Fef, ewen if I did feel that wway. Besides, Kanaya's like my mum,"

Wow, Karkat was surprised. "I'm sorry, did I just hear you admit that you learnt something?"

"Shut up, landdwweller," Eridan snapped with a light blush of embarassment. "Anywway, wwe should go back to the dorm noww seein' as you're done eatin'. It's gettin' late,"

As Eridan walked towards the door, Karkat noticed a limp to his gait.

"Hey, are you alright?" the mutant called, quickly catching up. It was common for low bloods to walk about with injuries treated in the traditional fashion, but for a violet blood to have a limp when stem cells were readily available was odd to say the least.

"I'm fine,"

"No, man, you're not, what happened?" An errand boy appeared to show them to the dorm, as Karkat kept a steadying hand on his friends upper arm.

"I fucked up at my mission an' got injured, an' got told I had to heal naturally on account a that fuck up,"

"Weren't you just blowing up a sub or something?"

"Confidential, Kar," he smirked.

With an eyeroll, the conversation finished.

Once safely inside his overly snug bedroom (aka high end capsule), he chatted with Kanaya a little. Eridan's comment on her being like a mother came to mind, making him grin, and making her gasp with a mixture of shock and annoyance.

GA: I am Only Eighteen I Would Hardly Make A Good Mother To A Pair Of Stunted Young Men

CG: STUNTED?

GA: You Being Physically Stunted And Eridan Being Emotionally Stunted I Am Sure We Can Both Agree On That

CG: ):B

But he cut off the conversation before it grew too long; he was to be sent on another bodyguard mission the next day, not to mention his whole body ached from the bruises Gamzee had given him. Hopefully rest would help some of the injuries heal a little. Hopefully.

* * *

**== > Is Vriska in the village yet? Be Vriska!**

You are now Vriska Serket, and you are walking towards a distant village.

As Vriska approached the village she noticed how much larger it appeared. In fact, it would be more accurate to call it a town.

The walk along the train tracks was a lengthy and boring affair, especially in the heat of the sun, thus, after half an hour, Vriska took a short break and drank a little of the water from one of two bottles in her pack. It was deliciously cool.

After another ten minutes, the noise of people could be heard, thanks to her advanced hearing, and it made her stop in her tracks completely. Aside from the lone mission to the costume party, Vriska had not been around ordinary people openly in years, and it made her feel… odd. While she had never been one for being surrounded by constant company, having only the same few mutants around for the past four or so years had not been fun. Nor had been the necessity of hiding when encountering normal people on her missions into the outside world.

To calm herself, Vriska took the mirror shard from her pocket and gazed at her disguise. It was all in order.

Perhaps one day she could go among normal people while looking all mutated… but that day was not going to be anytime soon, not with what the Condesce had done.

Sure enough, the train tracks passed through a somewhat worn down station. The Brit hoisted herself up onto the platform, then peered about, surprised to see nobody about. Though perhaps trains only ran from the direction where the sea had covered the tracks. That would explain it, she decided.

A few birds scattered as she entered the main body of the station, but most chose to watch her wander about from above. They were birds she had never seen before, but given how she had never left the United Kingdom before the whole mutant fiasco it hardly surprised her. Judging by the cooing, however, she decided they were most likely some sort of pigeon or dove.

Outside, she could hear a few voices. Peering round the corner, Vriska could see a small, abandoned station shop, and in the distance a hotel and a bunch of houses. Well, assuming that the train really _was_ out of commission, Vriska decided to follow the tracks a while further into the town; old habits die hard, and when the habit of avoiding human sight so one was not maimed was the one in question, it made sense for her to be somewhat cautious.

At the second station, she was pleased to notice that several non-residential buildings surrounded the tracks, and increased in density the closer she got.

"Here's my stop," she muttered to herself as she clambered up onto the platform once more. Inside were a number of refugees clustered beneath bridges and in doorways, mostly likely displaced by the flooding or fighting.

Like the previous station, none of the shops were open, with all doors and windows shuttered and locked down. Vriska walked through the refugees, then out of the station, feeling an odd sense of pride at how no one screamed at the sight of her.

Being proud of such a thing was pretty darn weird actually... but regardless, she carried on, but not before using one of the newfound muscles in her ear to dim the noise entering her ear canals. Having hypersensitive ears was all well and good until you found yourself surrounded by all the noise of a human settlement.

Outside was a heavily populated road leading up to a town square. Shops lined the street, with many having both a marquee outside, along with the main body of goods inside the building. And the variety! Most were selling food and clean water, but a number were selling obviously stolen household goods such as chairs and frying pans. Blankets were also popular stall items, some looking oddly familiar.

Yet before she got stuck in shopping, Vriska decided to have a look around, feeling cocky and self-assured enough to believe no one would see through her disguise. In the centre of the square were a number more marquees baking in the heat, with the odd person sleeping in doorways.

The first thing that caught her eye was a newsstand, though how anything was still in print was beyond her. Fuck, if only she had money... though at least she could see the headline, which read in no uncertain terms 'WAR WITH CONDESCE 'A LOSING BATTLE'"

Hoping the saleswoman would not notice, Vriska shuffled a little closer.

Having just learnt that it has been the President's Secretary of State who had said the quote in mention, Vriska was then made aware of the saleswoman glaring at her.

"You done, kid?" she asked. "You gotta pay to read it. Five dollars,"

"Five dollars?" Vriska replied incredulously. "I don't even know how much that is in pounds, but it sounds like way too fucking much!"

"You're British? You got stuck here on holiday or something?"

"Maybe," frowned Vriska. "What's it to you?"

"Whatever. If you've not got the money then move along."

Well she hated being ordered about, but there was little she could do, thus Vriska backed down and kept walking; she could not use mind control in front of so many people, unfortunately, and so had to act like any normal person would when faced with a tetchy newsstand seller.

Most other stalls in the market were selling more of the same basic necessities: food, blankets, cooking equipment (including knives), tents and portable solar panels, along with warm clothing and other goods.

While eyeing up a thick woollen sweater, Vriska noticed a police officer staring her down. Confused, she gave him a sweet smile before ambling on to another stall. Being arrested was certainly not on her to do list for today.

Anyway, if she wanted to buy anything she would have to go inside the shops, Vriska realised, as otherwise she would be seen using her powers by all the people milling about... and then there was the issue of the people inside the store too! Ugh. For a second she considered talking someone into giving her money, but judging by the state of the people wandering around the streets, they were as broke as the Brit.

These people were so pathetic looking to her that she even Vriska couldn't find it in her to pick on them. She was a bitch, but she had certain standards, near nonexistent though they be.

Vriska cut down a side road, darting through a narrow alley before coming out at the backside of the main street. Most had either a securely locked door, a guard or both positioned at their rear entrances presumably due to break ins. Indeed there were a few refugees rooting through the large bins, but the guards did not stop them. If anything it seemed they felt pity towards the refugees, though if they did they certainly did not show it.

One of the employees, upon noticing her, said in a low voice, "Don't you think about doing anything, you hear?"

"Got it, sir," she replied mockingly, and carried on, hoping to find a quieter spot.

Bingo.

Around the corner was the back of an outdoors shop, and whilst it was certainly not Vriska's first choice of shop, it would do. The employee guarding the backdoor eyed her lazily, with skin a pale cream, and ginger hair just like Vriska's current disguise.

"Don't try anything," he warned, then went back to reading his book.

Vriska put on her best approximation of an innocent smile, then said, "I wasn't going to, only, I wanted to ask something if that's alright?"

The employee looked up again and was instantly trapped in the clutches of her control.

"I am your cousin, got it? You're going to take me in to look around, and let me take what I want," she explained.

The man instantly stood up and opened the door behind him. Vriska followed him in, noting how he locked the door once she was in, and then shouted to the owner how he was showing his cousin round.

"Like I give a fuck," a voice shouted from a room in the back. Rude! Well Vriska certainly felt no guilt at the intended robbing now.

Upstairs was where all the tents and sleeping rolls were, he explained, and asked if she wanted any help choosing suitable equipment.

"I want something compact and lightweight for four people, same goes for blankets and mats but for three,"

"Well our most lightweight tent for four is made from our secret company exclusive fabrics and is suitable for all terrains save the harshest extremes, and including pegs and poles, comes to just under one kilogram,"

"Is it sturdy though?'

"Of course. The pegs are wide screw pegs, which hold it secure in most terrains, as well as being lightweight. As for compact, with but a flick of the switch and the removal of the support poles, the memory alloys will return the main body of the tent into its folded form, which is the size of an A4 sheet of paper. This foes into the bag, along with the pegs, a tarp for added water proofing, and the inner lining of the tent. This bag, provided the other parts are folded right, is also A4 size, and ten centimetres thick,"

Vriska was sold.

Eventually they would be travelling overland, and she was well aware that the bunch of them would be needing shelter while doing so. Though seeing as one of them would be keeping watch throughout the night, she did not need four copies of the sleeping bags and so on.

Next up, he showed her all manner of sleeping bag and mat combinations. Vriska eventually settled upon a sleeping bag whose base could inflate into a thin mat, and roll up admittedly not that thin for their times at fifteen centimetres thick, but was light and incredibly warm. she took three, and settled upon a large rucksack as well, into which she placed a pair of portable solar panels, a couple of pans and a chunky swiss army knife (she had _always_ wanted one), along with other assorted goodies the employee under her control thought she could use. She pulled a face when offered the chewy sweet brand the Handmaid had been feeding them though. Too soon...

Once the bag was swung onto her back, Vriska was grudgingly impressed at how light it was considering the amount inside, though given she had been running about with bags full of tins of food for the past few weeks, this bag was a breeze.

She was about to walk out the shop, then realised she had over two-thousand dollars worth of goods on her back. Popping her head round the corner of the door, she spoke to the other employee, and using her powers, convinced the pair of them that the goods she had essentially stolen had all been faulty. There.

It was a long hike back to Sollux, but she made it, and climbed up the tree he was hidden in to meet him. The pair of them were over heated and stank of sweat, and after sharing his bottle of water, she showed him the goods she had gotten so far.

"Hide them up here. I'm going to go back for more, so wait until I'm back to meet HM and Tavros, okay?"

"Yeah yeah, I heard the plan too, Vrithka," Sollux replied dryly, face glued to his phone screen, yet was pleased at the solar panels.

Returning to the use of her old backpack, Vriska set back off into the town again. By the time she returned, the sun was beginning to sink down once more, which was understandable given she had left early in the morning.

Vriska decided to spend the next half hour exploring the shops, and picking up the odd dried meat packet, and other nonperishables. Unsurprisingly, she also picked up a punnet of fresh peaches and a bag of mangetout as they were all craving fresh fruit and vegetables (a sentence Sollux thought he would never utter). Unlike the camping gear, the food she bought was stupidly heavy. How she was ever going to carry lentils, beans, spices and a big bag of rice about was beyond her... though splitting it between the four of them would substantially lighten the load. Still, for now she was simply thankful that it was not as heavy as the bags they had been carrying about in the tunnels.

There seemed to be a lot more policemen about than in the morning, and upon noticing, Vriska slunk away into the shadows, before ducking into a clothes shop.

Wow!

Looking about revealed an odd grouping of young men and women, and the current fashions. It seemed that tiny mutantesque horns on headbands were in fashion (much like those being worn at the ball the cerulean blood attended not so long ago), along with big, billowing cardigans and loose fitting harem pants. No wonder Vriska had been attracting odd looks! With her tight fitting vest and only somewhat baggy boiler suit, she stuck out like a sore thumb, and simply assumed most had been eccentrics. Of course, the bright red hair she sported did not help her blend in either.

Well, regardless of the strange patterns on them, the thick cardigans did look cosy, and would help them stick in better. But she would have to buy them somewhere else; there were too many people in Vriska's current shop. As she left, she bumped into a stern looking woman, who sneered at her as Vriska ducked her head to avoid her horns hitting the door frame. Lousy goddamn stupid low doorways.

The next clothes shop held much of the same fashion, and unlike the last, was virtually empty save for a shop assistant sorting clothes on the top floor.

Seeing all the clothes reminded Vriska of her sister, who had been a huge fashion victim (though hell if she knew where the kid had gotten it from). It was funny to think that her sister would likely be wearing the same sort of clothes, unless she had changed a lot while growing up... she would be fourteen now, a sobering thought for Vriska. It was not as if she would be able to see her family any time in the near future, and so like most of the mutants, she tried not to think of her family. Luckily for her she had not liked them a whole lot in the first place, and only really missed her sister now and again.

It was funny to think what would have happened if her little sister had been the one to inherit Mindfang's genes. Vriska was not entirely sure what would happen in the village (as her sister had never siphoned so would probably find it hard to deal with all the death). The idea of her being in Team Eight instead of Vriska made the Brit giggle though.

After a few minutes she headed upstairs to where the yellow blood assistant was, and after making sure they were alone Vriska approached her.

"Oh, hi, can I help?" the young woman asked, clutching a stack of clothes to her chest.

"Yes," replied Vriska with a smirk. "I would like a pair of those huge fluffy cardigans please, in blue and red"

As the assistant went to fetch the sweaters, the Brit milled about on the top floor, picking up a set of horns that looked like that of an oryx, and slid them on, careful to put them on behind her existing invisible horns. Heh. The oryx horns looked damn good on her, though she likely would have thought she suited all horns.

"Here they are!" the assistant chirped, and Vriska quickly pulled the fake horns off. That was embarrassing...

They were of a good quality, and so she decided to get them. Once the bag was secured to her bag, she walked towards the exit, and stopped to have a quick look in the mirror, not noticing how her horns were disturbing display items over the glass until a scarf fell on her head, which she quickly put back, hoping no one saw.

Well that was it for the day, she decided, and so Vriska turned and began to set off down the main road once more. The stalls she passed were beginning to pack up, and as she passed the last stall before the station, she noticed the familiar looking blankets... and then her blood ran cold.

The goods on the stall were the same as those in the tunnel's bunkers. There was no doubt about it. Of course, they could just be the same brand, but it still set Vriska into a panic. They were not safe here; they would have to move.

The chatter had dulled down in the town, and Vriska could hear a busker playing soft jazz music somewhere. Fear drove her feet forwards though, sending her plunging through the patches of long, cold shadow that stretched down the roads.

Once she reached the station, she stopped the light jog she had settled into and took a peach from the punnet before securing her rucksack again.

The peach was delicious and perfectly ripe, and it took all her concentration to not drop her disguise while eating it.

"Stop," ordered a sudden voice from behind Vriska, and her fight or flight instincts suddenly flared into action, at war with each other.

After a second of being frozen, she turned, having forgotten that she could simply control her if needed.

Behind her stood the stern teal blooded woman from the clothes shop, but now she was holding a gun.

"If you move, I will shoot. You are under arrest and will be returned to the Retainment Organisation, Vriska Serket,"

With a sneer, Vriska attempted to control her, but realised after a second of confusion that she could not connect with the woman's mind.

"You will not be able to use your powers on me, mutant" she said, and Vriska noticed the strange looking visor covering her eyes. They must have improved upon Doc Scratch's goldfish bowl thing. Fuck.

At the word mutant, several of the people in the station cowered away from the cerulean-blood.

Vriska had not felt true fear for her well being in a long time; her powers had protected her for years for all except the odd mutant who proved resistant… but such a thing had never happened with a human before.

"I'm clearly not a mutant!" she lied smoothly, seeing if she could talk her way out of her predicament. "Look! No grey, no horns, I'm just a lost tourist,"

"I've been following you, and I saw your horns displace several items, even though they are not visible. I know you have powerful mental manipulation powers, thus it is not entirely possible that you could disguise yourself,"

"And if I'm not this Vritka or whoever you're talking about?"

"Then you will be released unharmed. Now come along,"

**== > Just run!**

Taking a deep breath, Vriska did her best to look submissive, then suddenly leapt forwards, smacking the stun gun from the woman's hand before she had a chance to shoot. The gun skidded away into the hands of a refugee, but Vriska had already begun running at this point.

Rather than getting the gun back, the woman sped after the mutant. Losing her would prove more costly than not having the stun gun.

After a less than a minute of sprinting, Vriska was already beginning to tire thanks to the big bag of food on her back. She would have dropped it, but their supplies in the bunker were starting to run out thus she could not afford to lose any food.

But where was there to go?

There were only the train tracks, the fence on either side, and at the end, the sea. Vaulting over the fence seemed like a good option at first, but the heavy bag would make her slow, and the teal blood would catch up to her… but it was not as if she could keep running to the sea; Vriska could swim, but not well enough to escape, and especially with a bag on her back…

UGH!

What was she to do?

The woman, who was presumably a guard, was about 10-20 metres behind Vriska judging by how close her shouting and footsteps seemed. At least she no longer had the gun!

After a few more minutes of running, Vriska decided to drop the disguise, and found her head immediately felt clearer, though resulted in the guard sprinting to catch up with renewed vigour. Crap, maybe she should have made herself look like a different troll to screw with the guard's head… like Eridan! But then Vriska had not seen Eridan in a while and could not quite remember what he looked like, though admittedly the guard probably had not seen him enough to know what he looked like either.

Well whatever, it was too late anyway!

If she got out of this however, Vriska vowed to freak out her teammates by transforming into their various mutant friends.

After another five minutes of flat out sprinting, both had begun to tire. The only reason Vriska had an advantage was due to her increased strength as a mutant, and her much longer legs, though they were mostly negated by all the fucking food she was carrying.

Sprinting slowly became running, which then became a carefully placed jog.

They were fast approaching the path which led to the entrance to the tunnels. Vriska had to choose whether to jump the fence, and quickly.

Due to it being one of the few areas where one could jump the fence without hitting a wall of cacti, before the tracks reached the sea, Vriska decided to go for it.

She feigned movement for jumping across the right hand exit, then sharply turned left and vaulted the fence, yet to her horror she could not jump high enough. At the last moment of the jump, her toe caught the top of the fence, and she fell hard onto the ground.

Yet there was no time to lick wounds, she leapt to her feet, cradling an injured arm while she ran, thanking her luck that the teal blood had not caught up fully... though having two metres on someone was barely an advantage... The situation reminded her a little of the last time she had been badly injured, also by a teal blood.

All her body hurt. The boiler suit had prevented any scrapes forming on her legs, but her palms and arms were not so lucky. On top of the physical pain, her body hurt from the stress placed on it. Her lungs ached and her sides burned from vicious stitches.

The only sounds were the slapping of feet on hard ground, and heavy panting, and the sun was sinking in the sky far too rapidly for Vriska's liking.

There was nothing more she could do than murder the woman. After all, she no longer had the stun gun, so it would be easy, yet the only weapons Vriska had were her Fluorite Octet, and if she missed or got some shitty attack, then there was no second chance; the Handmaid had not fully taught her how to pull the dice back using their ingrained telekinesis.

But then again, if she murdered the woman, then the Condesce would know something strange had occurred, and would possible send more guards and soldiers in to catch them. No, there was only one choice. Vriska would have to remove the device preventing the woman from mind control, and get her to leave of her own accord.

But how?

Vriska's best bet was to hope to all her lucky stars that the dice attack would not be lethal, and attempt to knock her out.

They were fast approaching a clearing in the sparsely forested area, where the shadows grew ever longer as the sun set. Perfect, except for how she could just about see the glint of the abandoned machinery near the tunnels in the distance.

Pushing her hand deeply into her pocket, she crossed the fingers on her free hand, turned and thew the dice onto the floor.

83638848, or 33468888...

The dice emitted a shrill noise that made Vriska's sensitive ears ache like nothing else. This was followed by a strange popping sound accompanying huge amounts of smoke pouring into the air about them.

In less than a second, all that was visible was the thick black smoke that clung to Vriska's clothes and made her eyes sting. Wonderful, she scowled as she patted down the ground for the dice.

Thankfully they had landed close together, and she was quickly back on her feet.

Unlike the human woman, the mutant's ears were sensitive enough to pick up the subtle sounds of the rustling caused guards leg muscles twitching and disturbing the dry leaves.

Vriska twitched her ears into a perked and alert position to maximise the noises she picked up, then inched her way towards the guard as silently as possible. It seemed that the woman was but a few metres ahead, but that did not guarantee which way she was facing.

Frustrated at how she would not be able to aim to grab the mind control device without vision, Vriska opened her eye with the vision eightfold and squinted through the cloud in an attempt to see, yet the fog was far too acrid, and every time she thought she was getting somewhere, she would have to screw her eyes shut again in pain.

Fuck it, she decided, and leapt forward, aiming above where she thought she could hear breathing coming from, and found her fingers closing around a flexible plastic like case filled with some sort of gel. Bingo?

Judging by the shriek of fury from the woman, Vriska decided that she must have removed the anti-mind control device.

"Well," Vriska said, her hand resting on the guard's shoulder. "This is an impressive device I'll admit. But how come you were fooled by my disguise if it stops mind control?"

"How the hell should I know? I didn't make it, I'm a soldier!" the human spat at Vriska while wriggling furiously to escape from her grip, yet it was no use, her limbs simply did not want to move. "What are you going to do with me? I've already alerted the rest of the guards to come,"

Vriska gave a patient smile, "I'm going to make you forget," She then manipulated the woman into explaining how she had made a mistake, and that the girl she had been hunting really was not a mutant after all.

Then, she spent a few minutes sorting her way through the memories and forcing her brain to believe the lie she had just told the rest if the guards over her radio. It was an incredibly tiring process, unlike when she had convinced the two shop keepers that their goods had been defective, due to the resilience and certainty in the woman's mind that Vriska had been a mutant. Eventually she got it, and after placing up her disguise once more, and placing the glasses back on, broke control on the woman's mind.

The human blinked slowly, as if waking from a dream, then saw Vriska and leapt to her feet.

"Sorry, ma'am. Please continue with your day," she said, then turned and began the long walk back into town. Once she was out of sight, Vriska sighed and sank down into a seated position with her back resting on a tree. Pulling out her bottle, she took three large swigs of water then poured the last few drops onto her forehead to cool down. She was right next to the tunnels anyway.

The sun was almost gone now, staining the sky a beautiful array of bright obnoxious colours that Terezi would have plenty of fun smelling, and beside her hopped a small bird. While pecking about in the ground, it grew bold enough to come within a metre of Vriska, which she found amusing.

It was all going to be okay again.

A couple metres from the tunnel entrance was the campfire from the previous night. It was a shame they would have to leave, it could have been so lovely next to the ocean...

She hopped down into the tunnels, activated the vision eightfold and began the slow walk to where they hid in the bunker. With the amount her legs were shaking however, it could be quite some time until she actually reached it. Rest was vital though, and running would only cause her exhausted body to collapse.

All was fine until the pungent smell of blood smacked her in the face.

Fuck.

All thoughts of rest flew out the window as she readied the dice in her hand and hobbled down the tunnels as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, one of the things vision eightfold could not do was see in colour, and so the blood that covered the floor was a mystery to her until Vriska pulled out her torch and was briefly blinded.

Copious amounts of orange blood had been spilled, and the sight of it made Vriska's chest tighten and feel something she did not feel often: worry and dread.

Mixed with the orange were small amounts of teal and rust red, but in no where near the volumes of the orange. Fuck fuck fuck...

Orange was still leaking somewhat from beneath the door to the bunker, but other than the dripping it seemed no noise was coming from the room.

Slowly, slowly Vriska opened the door, then peered her head round, only to met with a surprising sight.

Passed out and propped up against the wall were a trio of the Condesce's agents. two teal bloods, and an orange blood with a number of wounds. At this sight, Vriska broke out in a grin, though noted that neither the Handmaid nor Tavros were visible. Huh. None of their things were about either...

The spark of hope that had returned to Vriska was quickly extinguished as she paced increasingly franticly about the room, looking for any trace of the Handmaid and Tavros's whereabouts. Frustrated at the lack of clues, she then turned to the guards, and began rummaging through their pockets for any goods or information.

Two of the three carried maps of the tunnels and the corresponding land above, with one map missing... The dread returned and sat heavily in Vriska's stomach.

Surely they would not have left without a word?! Surely not! And yet it was looking increasingly likely...

In the corner where they left their stuff, Vriska noticed that in her haste, she had forgotten that her blanket was being used as padding beneath her bag straps, and had assumed the expanse of materiel on the floor had been hers. It was not.

Vriska scooped up the blanket, and to her shock, out tumbled Tinkerbull. At first, she did not know whether to be shocked that Tavros still had his toy with him, or surprised at how he had managed to leave it behind _now_ of all times. But regardless of that, there Tinkerbull was. Frustrated at the days events, Vriska could not help but hurl the poor toy across the room to relieve some of her stress.

What use was a toy to her?

She sat moping for a few minutes, then slunk to pick Tinkerbull up. What she had not previously noticed, however, was the small bit of paper rolled tightly against the ribbon tied about the plushie's neck.

On one side, it showed a hastily drawn map of some location, and on the other read: were attaked by guards Following us in tunnels for long time. Escaped (just) but have to stay In tunnels obv. Meet us here (hint north mountins) stay safe 3 T

Vriska was ammused by Tavros' spelling and grammar, and even more amused by how he had written out the less-than-three-symbol instead of just drawing a proper, upright heart. Nerd. Cute as that was though, she did not know what to do with the message contained. North mountains? Perhaps the location was somewhere on the maps the guards carried.

After removing their anti a mind control devices, Vriska tugged out one of their maps once more, and laid it out on the floor to study it.

North mountains... North mountains...

Well the furthest area north with tunnels were those in Colorado... and they were definitely under mountains. Satisfied, she began to attempt lining up her mini map with the proper map, and eventually found an area at the end of a tunnel system that opened out near a marked settlement. That was probably it!

Vriska then circled the location and put the map in her bag. It was by no means convenient, but it would have to do.

Now to throw off the scent.

Taking the remaining map, Vriska plucked up a narrow edged splinter of wood from the shelving units, and roughly traced an area of land from the south, making sure to leave light indents. Hopefully they would see such marks as a lead. Hopefully...

Well, Tavros and the Handmaid were gone, and that made her feel hollow inside, but there was nothing she could do about it. First things first, Vriska would have to deal with the guards. But how? There was no knowing when they would wake, and no guaranteeing that it would be a simple quick job of convincing them they had not seen the mutants they had...

Well, more mind control from Vriska then.

Squatting before the first teal blood, Vriska softly slid off their strange head gear so she could access their eyes, then woke them and began the tedious work of reworking the woman's memories. She then implanted the same memories into the minds of the other two guards. The story was: while routinely checking each bunker they came across, the trio encountered a puma that had gotten lost and ended up hiding in the bunker due to smelling the food, but were rescued by a kind young woman. After adding some more wounds to them to fit the puma story, Vriska smirked, put on her disguise again and woke them.

"Gosh, are you alright?" asked Vriska in an almost over the top manner, her voice dripping with concern. "Do you feel well?"

The guards moaned, clutching their now painful wounds tightly.

"The fuck is this?" one guard muttered to another.

"Do you need any help?" Vriska said somewhat louder.

At this, the trio looked up at her, their expressions unreadable behind the masks. Had she been another person, she may have been worried that her mind control had not worked, yet Vriska being Vriska had full confidence in her powers. Sure enough, the female teal blood said, "Oh, you're the girl who helped us!"

Vriska made a somewhat self-deprecating bow and smiled sheepishly, "Yep, that's me! I scared the puma off so hopefully it won't be back any time soon. Though you three gave it quite a fright too thankfully, so thank you on behalf of those of us who, um, work down here,"

"You work down here?" the orange blood questioned, sounding concerned as Vriska wrapped some of the bandages they had in the shelter around one of his arm wounds. The guard in question was a young man in his late twenties with pleasant enough features, and seemed to be susceptible to her charms. Good, seeing as there was no longer a way to control them into telling her things (a stupid thing to forget to do). "That's crazy, these tunnels are dangerous as fuck.

"Oh yes," she replied brightly. "But I can more than handle myself. We come down here to salvage goods from the bunkers, and sell them on. Business has boomed since the flooding, which is a big of a double-edged sword,"

"Wow, I had no idea," he replied.

"What were you three doing down here anyway? Are you salvagers too?" Vriska made sure to sound as naïve as possible.

"Thank you for the help, but we must be going now," the male teal blood said coldly, stood up, and left the room, followed shortly by the other teal blood.

At this, the orange blood looked back and forth between the door and Vriska, then quickly muttered, "We're looking for four mutant fugitives,"

"No way! Really?"

"Yeah, they're crazy dangerous, so be super careful okay?"

"Will do. I feel safer already knowing you guys are down here protecting us though," smiled Vriska shyly. "Be careful, alright?"

"Will do ma'am!" He went towards the door, wincing a little when moving his shoulder when Vriska lurched forward and grabbed his arm. "Huh?"

"I just remembered something, though it's probably irrelevant, um," Trying her best to look coy, she tucked her hair behind her ear and looked down at the ground, pushing her chest out. "Some of our people further north have been spreading rumours about ghosts running about. We assumed they were just a bunch of refugees with those horns that are fashionable at the moment, but maybe not?"

The man turned to face her, "Can you tell anything about their whereabouts?"

"Seemed to most of those who saw them that they were heading in a southerly direction. Maybe they're trying to escape to Mexico?"

"That's incredibly helpful, thanks for your help. We'll let our southern team know when we next get above ground. We should be close to an opening now though-"

"Oh no!" Vriska interrupted. "You don't want to take that opening, it's been flooded over in the recent storms up above. Take the one after, it's safer. Though of course it could be fine by now so make your own call I guess!"

"Thanks for the advice, ma'am." he smiled, not that she could see his face, then turned to leave.

Well thank God that was sorted. Seeing as she was a cerulean blood, the guards would probably take her advice and put off exiting at that hole. Best to wait a few minutes for them to leave though, just to be safe.

Now onto the next dilemma. No doubt it was nighttime outside by now, and now there was the issue of finding Sollux, who was still going to be sat in the tree, and break the news to him. Though she would never admit it to his face, the idea of seeing his face after all the drama that has happened was a comforting thought to Vriska. An island of normality amongst the change and fear.

Before any of that, though, the cerulean blood packed away a bunch more food and supplies she could need into her backpack, along with the remaining blanket (Sollux's probably) before taking one last took at the bunker. It was more than a little pathetic to think about, but in all honesty, she had probably spent the best days of her life in this bunker, or the space above. Days with friends and laughter and freedom. Okay, so maybe friends was a bit of a stretch, but they certainly got along better than she did with most other people. Team Eight were all she had now, and so Vriska was going to try her damn hardest to find them again, because fuck if the Condesce was going to take away even more of what was hers.

The mostly empty shelves sat in darkness once more as Vriska shut the door, and the drip drop of the leaky tap would be heard by no one for another year, not until a strange set of travellers would find themselves seeking shelter beneath the ground of a desert. But that was another story entirely.

Knowing she was completely alone now gave the tunnels a very different feel. Walking through the corridors with the other mutants for company was creepy as it was, but a sense of safety in numbers made the ragtag group feel better, especially seeing as three of the four had powerful metaphysical abilities. Besides, as the Handmaid would tell Tavros whenever he felt creeped out, they were in all honesty the scariest things down there. It gave little comfort when armed with the knowledge that they were indeed being stalked by the Condesce's guards the entire time, though. What else could be down here, Vriska now asked herself.

Every footstep echoed maddeningly loud, regardless of how softly she placed her feet. At least the sounds helped give her a better idea of the dimensions of the path ahead, a concept which amused her a little, but not enough to erase the nagging fear of what was hiding in the darkness. It was times like these when Vriska was thankful for the absences of the ghosts Aradia had sent after her.

Several times Vriska swore she could hear the low murmur of voices coming from behind her, or the rapid pattering of footsteps. Of course, nothing ever came of these fears, but still, the sudden racing of her heart as she trudged forwards was annoying at best. Towards the end of her journey, a noise thrust its way through the darkness that was seemed so close and disturbing that she broke into a panicked run, with painful prickling at the corner of each eye as she held back cobalt tears.

All of the creepy noises. All of it. And at such a bad time...

"Tavros has rubbed off on you," she told herself fiercely after a sharp pinch to the arm. "I am Vriska Serket. I do not run at stupid fakey fake fake noises."

The sight of the ladder made her body tingle with relief, and she ascended quicker than she ever had before.

Opening the hatch revealed a beautiful canopy of stars beginning to peak out from the fading hues of the sunset, with the sun just about to sink below the horizon. It looked almost as if it was being swallowed by the sea, which was an amusing thought. Though in a way, almost everything was being swallowed by the sea at the moment.

Vriska thought back to the strange many tentacled creature she swore she saw once in an opening to an immense pool back at the Retainment Organisation. What if there had been another reason that the Condesce had flooded the earth... no. It did not do to think of such things when right beside the sea.

In the walk to where Sollux was hidden, Vriska noticed two things. One, that where she and the guard had fought, the black smoke had stained the ground and leaves around it. Odd. Two, that the cardigans Vriska had bought had dropped off her bag while running... This was found out by finding the fallen bag beside the fence she had hurdled over. Huh.

Oh well. No harm done... hopefully.

Sollux was still a few minutes away, but the dark and cold were settling down heavily, so Vriska began a light jog.

Everything is going to be okay, she told herself as she wandered about the strange looking forest's floor.

After another five minutes of searching, she came across the bag with the tent and supplies in, secured high up in a tree. Great.

She dumped her bag on the floor, then coaxed her aching muscles into climbing up the branches until she reached the rucksack. But before she returned to the ground, she looked about for the yellow blood. Perhaps he was simply hiding in a different tree to mess with her? Yet... she could see nothing but branches, leaves and the odd roosting bird.

"Sollux?" she whispered harshly. "Come here, stop fucking around!"

No reply.

"Sollux?" she said again, this time at normal speaking level. Swishing her ears back and forth to pick up more noise did nothing for her though. There was still no reply.

Panic spread through her body like a virus as she looked franticly about her. " _SOLLUX_!" she screamed, and was met again with silence.

Climbing down was harder than climbing up, but after a few minutes she was back at ground level.

"Fuck," muttered Vriska as she slid down into a seated position, her back resting against the solid mass of a tree trunk. "What am I going to do..."

Her ear picked up nothing, no telltale signs that a human was approacing.

Vriska was alone.

An overwhelming sense of emptyness filled her body, and tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes once more.

The three of them were gone, and she had been left behind.

Left, alone, useless.

Where was Sollux? Surely he should have been here... yet he was not. Clearly he had gone back to be with the others and was there to run off at the attack.

Useless good for nothing.

Sure, they could have waited, but as if they would have waited for you, she thought. ' _I'm a nasty massive bitch! It's no wonder they all leapt at the chance to leave. But no matter, I don't need a bunch of wimps travelling with me anyway_ ,'

Though... said wimps would have made good company, especially considering the trek she would have to complete overground.

_If_ she made the trek at all, that is. This would be the perfect escape she was longing for just the other day. Vriska could live freely now with the use of her ability to change appearances. It would be a fresh start away from the Retainment Organisation and her siphoning past... she could be free...

After a good few minutes of squeezing and shoving, Vriska managed to get her bag into the larger rucksack, and OOF it was heavy...

Well. This is where the cerulean blood would decide what to do with her life. Either she left to start anew, or reunited with the few people who could put up with her. Sure, the Handmaid and Sollux were her friends, and who knew what Tavros was to her right now... but it would be easy enough to make new friends right? Right? Though any new friends she made would have to remain in the dark about her true identity as a mutant, due to the vast amounts of fear surrounding them prompting people to turn mutants in (not to mention the excessive rewards offered for the capture of one). Having to keep up the pretence of being normal all the time was a daunting prospect.

Well, who needs friends anyway! Vriska had never been one to surround herself with friends. Lackeys, absolutely! Friends, ehh maybe the odd person who could put up with her bullshit.

Without realising it, Vriska had already set off towards the train tracks that would lead her on the path to Colorado.

' _Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to travel there and see what happens along the way_ ,' she told herself, but made no promises to meet up with those who she decided had abandoned her. But thinking of the kisses she and Tavros had shared the previous night made her stomach feel strange and her face hot... and her heart felt a surge of warmth when she pictured the soft, kind looks he had given her as she cried. She then remembered the unwavering support and belief in her skills that the Handmaid showed throughout the years they had been stuck in the Retainment Organisation, then the honesty and companionship from Sollux, and a similar warmth filled her heart.

"Fuck," Vriska sighed, wondering why she had go through an emotional flashback as punishment every time she thought of straying from her companions. "Colorado it is then!"

The residual warmth of past affections was to be her sole companion however, and at that thought her heart felt heavy once more in her chest.

Best she got moving, for dark was closing in, and were Tavros' stories to be believed, the big cats that stalked these parts would be closing in rapidly...

* * *


	8. Underwater level

**== > Be someone else**

You are now Karkat Vantas.

A hand slammed down on the table before the three mutants.

"They knew! Somehow they knew, and now I have to deal with it," the Condesce growled. "Dirty rotten fuckers."

Looking up from her clenched fists, the troll fixed her gaze upon Terezi, who was in the centre of the mutant trio. Her glare was furious and so intense than none could so much as move a muscle - even breathing became difficult – but none before her so much as flinched while they could.

Karkat, Terezi and Eridan were well used to the Condesce's mood swings, and after over three years of her bullshit, very little of her behaviour could phase them. Much of the same could be said of the other three remaining mutants. Though they usually spoke to Doc Scratch for missions and general information, when there was a fuck up or a major mission, they were sent to the head honcho herself, which was never preferable.

A large amount of spirits were poured into a glass the Condesce pulled out, which she drank straight and in one go, shortly followed by a gag of disgust. The alcohol to her mind broke the control, and the three mutants attempted to catch their breath as subtly as possible. Though she was clearly already reasonably drunk, the fishbitch took another drink, this time swigging straight from the bottle, then poured one more full glass of the stuff, and after a little thought placed a pair of ice cubes in, ignoring the splash of vodka onto her desk… or perhaps she did not notice.

Holding it up before her, she looked at the three teens before her, squinting a little, then said, "Here, mini-sufferer. You look like you need this most," Karkat took the drink, albeit in a somewhat hesitant manner. "Drink up."

Having been only thirteen when he was abducted by this woman, as had the rest of them, he did not have a particularly good tolerance for alcohol, nor any taste for it. His father had given him bits of watered down wine to taste as a kid, which inevitably put him off it immensely.

Nonetheless he took a small sip and grimaced visibly, prompting the Condesce to snap, "Down it. Helps with the taste. Fucking cheap ass industrial vodka."

**== > Down it! Down it!**

With a small frown, Karkat tilted his head back and drank the spirit in several glugs without pausing for breath. It burnt the back of his throat and brought to mind paint stripper. Ugh. His eyes squeezed together and he wished more than anything to have another drink to wash the taste away, but as there was nothing, he settled for crunching one of the icecubes between his teeth.

Just about audible behind him was Eridan muttering something about him being unable to hold his drink, and had they not been infront of one of the most powerful women on the planet, he would have punched that smirk off his face. Well… Karkat made a well-informed _guess_ that the sea-dweller was grinning, which he indeed was.

"Well anyway, I need to tell you why you're here," The Condesce said after an extended period of staring into space with a pronounced frown on her face. "I need you, to go into that little bitch's house and gun him down. Or blow it up or, ehh, whatever."

The Condesce then began detailing the mission they would be leaving on the next day, but Karkat could not for the life of him focus. His eyes felt dry all of a sudden, and his limbs distant, and his mind kept drifting off to somewhere else, a better time maybe, because that was a valuable fucking use of his concentration of _course_.

"Hey, kid, did you eat anything today?" the troll asked after giving his face a slap. How oddly motherly! He shook his head, as he had been feeling too ill to eat, to which she replied with. "Figures, though I guess you're still pretty human so whatever the fuck this percentage is probably gonna mess with you regardless of having an empty stomach or not."

But did any of it really matter? What did matter? There they all were, a bunch of mutated monkeys, in a… a room with like six walls… was she a bee? The Condesce? The Queen Bee. Hmm.

The world seemed to be spinning about him as the drink began to have more of an effect, and before long a heavy feeling of wrongness and nausea set in.

In between the haze of the alcohol and trying to focus on keeping himself sitting upright long enough not to fall over, he registered a little of what the Condesce was saying. Talking of focus, images were starting to double… that was not normal right?

Was _Karkat_ a bee?

Or a wasp?

He hoped he was a bee because wasps were dickheads. Though he would rather be a human being but beggars certainly cannot be choosers.

But Sollux was _way_ into bees, and fuck if he wanted to be like that computer loving geek.

"To summari… need you to go to the presidential… Eridan will get you in and… rkat will provide the defence if you two can stop fucking bickering for a minute… don't let them out of your… Fucking pay attention will you?"

If he was a bee then he would be able to just fly out and escape through an open window… in an underground bunker… okay maybe…

Maybe not? Maybe? Maybe not?

Flying would be amazing though, right? Or would they expend loads of petrol on… no that was airplanes maybe. Not flying people. That was different.

"What?" he croaked, and upon noticing the dry sandpaper-like feel to his throat coughed… but more came up than usual.

A splattering of bright mutant-red blood sat obnoxiously on his palm, and out of habit more than conscious thought, he wiped it away on his trousers, but his body was quickly overtaken with coughing spasms again, and much more blood emerged.

Karkat spent a moment thinking about how pretty the weird liquid looked. It reminded him of that artist they studies excessively the few weeks before he was kidnapped. Splatter art.

"Ew, fuck, a mutant blood!"

"Karkat are you okay?"

Voices floating about him.

A warm liquid was dribbling down his chin. What was that all about? Was this a drooling thing? That would be embarrassing, especially in front of Terezi.

Terezi.

Her eyes matched the red covering his hands and arms and face and clothes and…

God his eyelids were dry.

Cshtt cshtt. Blink. Blink.

You were not supposed to hear your eyelids, right?

Was the desk that close before? Fuck. Approaching desk at 12 o clock.

CLONK!

Karkat's head smacked hard against the desk as he passed out. His skull bounced off it, and he fell from his chair, head briefly landing on Terezi's lap before sliding off. Body fully on the floor, the blood painted a story about him.

The story read: do not give semi-human teenagers 96% alcohol, especially not in large amounts you fucking nitwitted fish alien.

**== > Oh GOD. Is Karkat okay?**

Karkat will probably survive.

**== > Okay, thanks. Be Karkat when he's better.**

You are now Karkat Vantas the next morning, and you have not felt this bad since someone tried to set you alight. A story for another day.

A powerful throbbing began pounding at the back of the mutant-blood's skull, accompanied by a rough throat in dire need of some water and possibly crackers, or whatever would stay down in his stomach.

Karkat opened his eyes a crack and immediately regretted it: the strong lighting near blinded him, thus he quickly retreated beneath the covers for safety.

Suddenly a voice sneered, " _How's you my favourite motherfucker all about feeling now_?"

Fuck. Not the time, not the time at all for Gamzee.

Another attempt at opening his eyes, and Karkat found himself in a small medical room with a doctor by his bedside. Looming above him was the enormous form of the Capricorn, a collar about his neck, and on the end of the attached chain was the Condesce looking somewhat glum.

The sight of Gamzee essentially acting like an oversized guard dog to the much smaller Condesce almost sent the poor mutant-blood into a fit of laughter, but judging by the state his throat was in, it would only cause him pain. Oh well, she would probably kill him for laughing at her anyway.

Karkat began to reply, but sure enough, the damage the alcohol had done to his throat caused him intense pain, and he doubled over with tears prickling in the corners of his eyes.

"I would recommend against talking, Mr Vantas," the doctor said in a shaky voice, and he noticed that the woman was avoiding both the Condesce and Gamzee's gazes.

"Hey, if the kid got asked a question then he has to answer it," the Condesce shot back haughtily, making the poor doctor flinch, but nonetheless decided to move on, deciding they were boring, or perhaps she had other people to terrorise.

"Later, my fine bro."

Once they had left, the doctor, a maroon-blood, offered Karkat a glass of water, which he gratefully accepted. To his surprise it was not water at all, but rather a thick, syrupy liquid that tasted pleasingly sugary and seemed to smooth down the roughness.

"What… happened?" he managed to croak between sips.

"The Condesce gave you an incredibly strong alcoholic drink by mistake, you suffered a great deal for it. Luckily you were admitted quickly, thus you will be ready to leave in a few hours,"

A few hours? He still felt like absolute garbage, but then he had only ever received medical care from his father, and upon coming to the Retainment Organisation, the medical care a low-blood would be given. Perhaps it was normal for high-bloods to have such rapid results.

"Your mission is to be carried out at eight in the evening, no exceptions," the doctor relayed, before leaving the room.

Crap. Being sent on a mission he had not a clue about was bad enough, but from what he could remember of the night before both Terezi and Eridan had seen his disgusting candy red blood. Possibly the two people he least wanted to see it, other than Gamzee he guessed…

Still, there was no chance Terezi would want anything to do with a mutant-blood. She was beautiful and fierce and clever (though admittedly not when eating chalk) and could do so much better than a freak. There was no chance _anyone_ would want anything to do with a mutant-blood.

Well, there was Kanaya, but had she not found out by mistake, he would not have told her, and though she seemed not to mind he was still immensely self-conscious of the matter. As for Eridan, that guy was so up his own arse about the hemospectrum it was a wonder he even spoke to a guy whose blood looked maroon. He had mellowed recently, but being mutant-blooded and rust-blooded were two very different things.

Exhaling heavily, Karkat rested his face in his palms and contemplated the mission they were about to undertake. Perhaps it was for the best that there was no time to talk the whole blood issue through before hand? If they were all focussed on the work given then there would not be enough time to think about his mutation.

A mutation on top of the other freakish mutations they had to endure. Sometimes Karkat thought that the world should give him a damn break with all the mutation stuff. Grey skin mutant _and_ candy-red blood? COME ON.

The three met in the gear room, and though the other two seemed to be ignoring him as he entered, Karkat was merely relieved that he did not feel as awful as he was earlier. They silently pulled on their gear, which seemed to involve a lot of underwater gear… oh.

Lousy goddamn stupid underwater levels.

"Can anyone _please_ fucking tell me what we're doing?" he grumbled while fiddling with a air tank's straps. "I was kinda preoccupied getting my insides dissolved by an assbrain's window cleaner, or whatever it was,"

"We're being sent to gather information from the president, nubby," Terezi said casually. "Grape-Soda here is going to get us in, as he's basically a fish and our oxygen tanks are holding just enough to get in and out as they're heavy enough. Once he unblocks the way in, the three of us are gonna have to rely on Kanaya's instructions to get to the required room and hope for the best!"

"No offense, but that's the dumbest plan I've ever heard,"

"Wwhat wwould you hawe us do then?" Eridan snarled. Clearly he had not taken the blood colour issue as well as Terezi. Or Perhaps he was simply stressed? "Wwe need the information, an' that's the only wway to get at it. Not that you wwould know seein' as you could barely bother to stay awwake in that meetin',"

"Hey fuck you, nookface, you know full well that I wasn't just goofing off,"

"Wwho knowws wwith your sort,"

Karkat was vaguely aware of Terezi grinning at the situation in the corner while fiddling with some straps, but he was far more interested in Eridan's smug face as he threw an embarrassingly weak punch into the high-bloods nose.

Krrk!

It was not broken by any means, but blood still began to run from the seadweller's nose. Violet blood that showed up shockingly bright on the mutant's ashen skin. Lucky sod. An infuriatingly arrogant smile lit Eridan's face when he realised that Karkat had been looking at his blood, though it soon left as he got back to putting on his suit.

While all three were wearing the same base outfit of a form fitting coverall, Eridan's had two sections that could be rolled up at the sides to expose his second set of gills, which Terezi insisted made him look like some sort of stripper. The coveralls were made of a strange matte material that was split into thousands of tiny scales and had the texture of shark skin. Perhaps it was armour? Whatever it was, it was surprisingly flattering. A small blessing, perhaps.

Over the top of the armour went the air-tanks for Terezi and Karkat, followed by the three of them strapping various weapons and tools needed to their bodies.

Karkat's twin scythes. Kinda lame but they were good at close combat.

Terezi's swordstick. Awesome, but like the scythes, was useless against an enemy with projectile weapons.

Eridan's Alan's CrossMare was it? Alas FlossHairs?

**== > Ahab's Crosshairs**

That's the one!

Eridan's Ahab's Crosshairs. A stupidly powerful weapon that should ideally have been given to someone with a little more emotional stability, and a little less hatred towards lowbloods. Coming to think of it, that was probably the exact reason the Condesce had let the violet-blood keep it.

Well it hurt to know that Eridan was going to be a dick about his mutant blood, but Karkat had expected it and in all honesty the sheer relief of Terezi not giving even the slightest fuck near cancelled out the upset. Almost.

The plane ride to the emergency shelter the president had been evacuated to was not nearly as awkward as Karkat had anticipated. Terezi insisted upon trying to get a taste of his 'pretty cherry-red' blood every few minutes, which he denied each time as regardless of how much he had the hots for Terezi, there was no way he was letting that tongue of hers anywhere near him. Who knew where it had been… scratch that, Karkat knew full well now that it had been on the door handle to the pilot's cabin.

"Why can't you keep that goddamn tongue of yours where it belongs! Belongs being, in this situation, inside your fucking mouth, bulgebrain," Karkat sighed as he watched the revolting sight.

"What? It's such a nice shade of yellow, crabby!" Terezi smirked. "Besides there's nothing else in here to taste given that the pair of you are so fucking uptight."

"Oh well _excuse_ me for not wanting your germ riddled tongue all over me! Here, would you like my formal apology in writing or recording, my liege? Anyway, no offence, but why do we even have Eridan with us?"

"Yeah, I should 'a been wwith my team, instead 'a hawin' to stick around wwith a tongue fetishist and a mutant freak,"

Terezi turned from the door handle and stared unnervingly at Eridan, her grin looking even more calculating than normal, "Given that the three of us are all mutants, the only additional thing making him more of a mutant than us is his blood. And given that we originally had the blood colour he has, wouldn't that make us the mutants?"

Eridan frowned and jabbed a finger at her, "That's completely different and you knoww that full wwell! Wwe aren't mutants, wwe wwere genetically engineered if anythin'. An' anywway, I swwear it wwas newer ewen confirmed? The wwhole thin' about candy-red bein' the original an' all that. An' if it is true, then he's just a Neanderthal,"

"It's true, and regardless of what you're blabbering about, it still makes Karkat the most normal of the bunch. Unless you're counting the pilot, that is,"

The pair continued to argue as the flight continued, but Karkat, for once, was in no mood to join in on the fight. Technically he would agree with Eridan's stance, but hell was he going to fight against Terezi; she was a demon in arguments, and plus she was on his side at the moment and he was fucking terrified of losing that.

Conversations continued, but Eridan continued to make it clear that he had lost all respect for the mutant-blood on account of the red pigment to his blood. Having a friend treat him in such a way was new territory, and made him feel useless and small with an intensity that was completely foreign to him.

After perhaps another hour or two, the plane began to loose altitude. The two air-breathers placed the masks in their mouths, whereas Eridan exposed the gills on each side in preparation of the jump.

"The plane isn't going to stop so we're going to have to jump!" shouted Terezi over the wind whistling in from the open door.

"What?" Karkat yelled, not catching her words.

"We're jumping!"

"But I can't dive!"

"Too bad! Mask on, breather in, and go!" Terezi sang, as his gear was all on, then gave him a good shove.

**== > Dive!**

You have no idea how to dive. Oh God oh… how were you supposed to dive?

**== > Oh, umm, put your legs together and your arms by your side!**

Too late!

Unable to get into the proper position, Karkat ended up approaching the water in a strange position and at speed.

"Fuuuuckkk!"

There went the mouthpiece.

 _Flooshhhhhh_!

' _Fuck fuck fuck fuck_!' the mutant-blood screamed internally this time, though too late.

The weights on his sides served only to aid sinking, and the weird dive position combined with the lack of _proper damn training_ resulted in his breathing apparatus being dropped out of his mouth. Screaming while falling was a bad idea apparently. Fucking useless. At least he could see, but fuck, what use was that?

Where was the mouthpiece?

Terezi said something about being able to find it if one stuck their arm… behind your butt and bringing it forwards was it? Maybe? It was night time to begin with, and his increased night vision was near useless as he sank further down. He must have a torch somewhere, but where…

Was he not supposed to have inflated his jacket before diving as well? Maybe if he had been given perhaps one more minute he would have been okay.

After a few more seconds of disorientated struggling, Karkat managed to face upwards, and saw the distant haze of the moon shimmering up on the surface. Well damn, he was a lot further down than he thought.

His chest burnt from the lack of air, but he began to kick his legs none the less… and found himself beginning to get dizzy.

What if there were monsters below him? If mutants like him had evolved from humans, then who knew what had happened to sharks, whales and humboldt squid.

His whole body felt weak and his lungs were starting to spasm to the point that it was hard to keep his mouth shut. But if he opened it, then the water would get in and that would be it.

As if the universe had heard him thoughts and decided to screw him over, a large solid object suddenly grabbed him from below.

Karkat yelled in shock, and let out the last remaining bit of air in his lungs… and into his open mouth went the something wide and plastic. The mouthpiece.

A hand reached round and adjusted the jacket's inflation so that he sat still in the water, moving neither upwards or downwards.

Behind him was Eridan Ampora with an odd expression on his face, which Karkat deciphered as him being worried – not a look he wore often, though the water distorted his expression so he could be wrong. The gentle touches making sure everything was on correctly suggested that Eridan was indeed concerned for Karkat.

The next minute was spent gasping the air in as well as possible when the source was from scuba breathing apparatus. It had not been Karkat's week.

The gills on the seadwellers neck would open wide as they drew in the water needed for respiration, followed shortly by the gills on his sides expelling the used water. It was relaxing to watch while low on oxygen, and so Karkat spent a few more seconds watching, before Terezi joined them. She tapped Karkat's arm and made the 'ok' symbol, asking if he was well.

Karkat responded with an 'ok' symbol as well, which was mirrored by Eridan. They were all good to go. The candy-blood's heart will still pounding, but he put this down to the near death experience. Nearly drowning sucked royally.

Terezi looked somewhat guilty. Good.

Eridan's earpiece crackled, and Kanaya's voice began to instruct him on the directions they would be needing to reach the presidents hideout. In response he would tap out a returning message by either rapping a nail onto the plastic or dragging it along the surface to create a longer noise, probably Morse code. Their communication made no sense to the other two trolls due to abbreviations, but Eridan was clearly the expert, so they made no comment, though talking was impossible anyway.

The earpiece on question seemed to be surgically implanted, perhaps to ensure that there was no way it would fall off while swimming.

Once their eyes had properly adapted to the meagre light conditions, the landdwellers noticed a number of blue luminescent freckles scattered across the seadweller's skin, that brought to mind a firefly squid. The freckles were faint, but undeniably there, and Terezi supposed that Feferi must have them too. Had they been on land, she would have asked Eridan on the matter, and had he been too grumpy to respond, commented on how she would have asked Sollux instead had he not gone renegade. Perfect. God, these boys were easy to wind up.

They swam for perhaps half an hour, before a shape was seen in the distance. Something vast and tall rising from the sea floor then up through the surface to create what seemed to be… a shining series of towers, perhaps? It was hard to tell when the three were so far down underwater.

Eridan suddenly stopped swimming, causing his hair to swish forward in front of his eyes and for perhaps the tenth time, he cursed himself for forgetting to pin it back. More instructions were being fed into his ear, but even his eyes could not see where Kanaya was telling him to go, which was not a problem for him, but for his team mates wearing air tanks, there was only so long they could wait.

' _Uw air now_ ,' he signalled to the troll on the other side of the connection, then began to swim once more to the side of the vast submerged building with the landdwellers in tow.

"Natural caves are present on the sea floor, but it may be too far down for Libra and Cancer. Along the building side there may be a few air pockets, as pieces were brought in from above when it was constructed. Use sonar," Kanaya replied over the earpiece, sounding somewhat annoyed. Sonar, of course. The violet-blood had completely forgotten that use of the machine he possessed, mostly because he had no need of finding air pockets on his missions.

Upon swimming closer to the building, the sonar feed on his diving mask began to display a vague idea of the layout, as well as a number of areas that could contain air. The images were sent to Kanaya and the team on the surface, who then interpreted them.

"Swim up 14m, then another 37 metres to the right, there should be a large air pocket, sheltered from view," The air pocket in question was found relatively easily thanks to the sonar, and contained a good amount of air.

As soon as the three surfaced and the mouthpieces were removed, Karkat spat, "Terezi, what the actual fuck!"

"Well it's not my fault you weren't ready!"

"Well it's not _my_ fault I got pushed out of a fucking plane without warning!" he retorted while switching the torch on his goggles on.

Eridan cleared his throat. "I'we got to go look for the entrance, so uhh, I'll leawe you twwo to it." He then dove down out of sight before anyone could say otherwise.

Looking back up from the disturbed water, Karkat returned his gaze to Terezi, and noticed how she looked more sombre than usual. Curse this crush thing.

After perhaps twenty minutes of awkward silence he asked, "You alright?"

The tea-blood pursed her lips, then said, "I can't see very well in the water. It makes me uncomfortable,"

"Fuck, sorry. I mean, none of us can really see in this kind of cloudy water outside fishdick, but yeah, sorry,"

"It's not your fault, it's just annoying. I can see enough to be able to follow you guys but that's it, even up here because of this stupid mask… though I'm kinda glad for that, because this air tastes disgustingly stale,"

"What if you took the mask off?"

"And get saltwater in my eyes? Karkat, just because I can't see out of them doesn't mean they won't hurt if I don't wear goggles! Besides, I can't smell in water so it's just pointless no matter how you look at it,"

**== > Hold her hand!**

You attempt to reach out to hold the girl's hand but it is as if a force field is stopping you.

**== > Do it! Try harder!**

A second attempt is made as you attempt the take the young lady's hand and win her affections, but once more you are thwarted by nerves or a force field. Whichever.

**== > Take her fucking hand you piece of shit!**

You take Terezi's hand. Wait, what, why did you do that, that was a fucking awful idea what the actual frick.

Terezi turned to Karkat with an amused expression.

"Karkat I can smell your cherry blush through this goddamn mask!"

Maybe it was not such a bad idea after all.

"Just, feel better okay? Soon it'll be okay, don't worry about it,"

"An inspirational speech from Mr Vantas himself! I'm honoured! Though I thought the inspirational speech was supposed to come from the group leader,"

"Fuck you, I'm the group leader and we both know it!"

"Judging by the ranking I think you'll find that I am!"

"Fuck you, bulgefondler,"

Terezi's hand was warm compared to the all consuming coldness of the ocean surrounding them, and he could feel her pulse softly beating against his skin, slow and steady. It was at a stark contrast to his, which was racing stupidly fast.

Both were at a loss of what to say, so they simply waited in silence for the violet-blood to return.

Splssh.

Twenty minutes later, a shock of orange and purple emerged from the water, followed shortly by Eridan's face, which looked angry. After quickly pushing the sopping wet hair from his eyes, he ordered, "Followw me, an' be quick. I go through the hatch first, followwed by Ter, then Kar. Got it?"

After a good fifteen minutes of swimming, Eridan relocated the entrance. On the opposite side of the immense structure was a small service hatch that had been forced open, and through the door – a long tunnel one metre wide and across.

They entered in the order instructed, then proceeded to follow the light the freckles on Eridan's hands and face gave off. No time for apprehension. Then they swam and swam for a long time, for so long that Karkat worried about running out of air, and Terezi grew sleepy and Eridan grew viciously hungry. Communications kept coming into his ear, and he continued to tap out the responses.

... - .- / -. . .- .-.

Eventually they came to a section where the pipes moved upwards and the water met air, then the three proceeded to climb up the absurdly slippery metal.

The scales on the suit's forearms shifted subtly, and Karkat found that he could grip onto the metal with ease if he pressed his arms down firmly. Almost like octopus suckers. The material on the whole suit also shifted in colour and seemed to try and blend in with the environment's colours and textures.

After another few minutes of crawling, they reached a more open and flat section of the tunnel, and though none were claustrophobic the open space brought strong feelings of relief to all.

"We can rest here," Terezi commented, though her tone was essentially an order. "Is everyone okay?"

"Tired an' hungry as fuck,"

"I hate to agree with the resident idiot, but same. Did the Condesce give us any supplies?"

"No, it would weigh us down I guess?"

Karkat leaned back against the wall and covered his eyes with a hand, "Well that's a great fucking idea. Ten out of ten,"

"If you don't mind eatin' raww fish, then I can get you somethin' to eat," Eridan offered after a few minutes of listening to the rumbling stomachs of his team mates. "An' regardless a' wwhether you don't, I'm gonna get some for me,"

"Oh yeah another great idea up in here. Splitting up while in the middle of enemy territory, fucking enlighten me on where you get these ideas! My fucking god man." Karkat asked. "Besides, can't you get all sorts of tapeworms and shit from raw fish? It's not exactly like it's going to be prepared by a fucking grade A sushi chef or whatever,"

"Yeah, don't you need to flash freeze it or something before it's safe? I don't want to get worms thanks. But by all means, don't let us hold you back!"

Eridan flushed angrily, "Okay, wwell fuck you guys. It wwas just an offer, an' anywway I wwas gonna catch a tuna wwhich have barely any parasites,"

"As if you could catch a fucking tuna, nooklicker,"

"Wwho's a mutant-blood to tell a high-blood wwhat he can or can't do?" Eridan snarled. "And first a' all I _could_ a' caught a tuna, I wwas just swwimin' sloww for you landdwwellers,"

"Unless you've got some hidden flippers you've kept on the low, fuckwit, then I really fucking doubt it,"

"Oh, an' howw wwould you knoww anythin' about my body?"

"Nothing, given I'm one of the few people here you haven't practically fucking _stripteased_ in front of to try and get laid,"

"Fuck you, I'we newer done that, and I don't hit on eweryone! I'm just lonely sometimes or… or wwhatewer, uh forget I said that,"

"I know you're lonely, goddamn it, who cares! Everybody knows, and nobody cares!" At this Eridan visibly cringed. "Anyway, why don't we just ask Vriska about the fins… oh wait we can't because even your own fucking kismesis didn't want anything to do with you!"

Terezi placed a hand on each of their faces and pushed the pair apart, "Gentlemen _please_ , we can discuss who's been laid or not later, and it'll be a very boring conversation because we are in a secret facility for mutants, admitted at thirteen where there is no privacy at all, so we're all as sweet and virginal as the next. Now can we get on with our lives?"

The boys turned away from each other angrily, and then continued the journey, making Terezi very glad to be separating the pair. All this over some fish! Hopefully they would be able to steal something to eat when they were in.

At the end of the tunnel was another small door, which led out to disused looking corridor as far as they could tell through the small window.

"It'd sure be easier if we had Sollux on our team," Karkat commented to piss Eridan off as he worked on prying open the door.

"Yeah, lowwblooded freaks gotta stick together, right?" he muttered in response, muscles straining as he repeatedly jammed a strange device into any crevice on the door possible. Whatever it was, it seemed to be loosening the lock.

"Or the woman who taught his group. The maroon-blood mutant with curly horns. Apparently when they broke out she blasted the huge security door clean off it's fucking hinges and tore a bunch of guards apart to nothing more than atoms with just her mind. That would be a lot more fucking useful right now than a pouting shit stain with gills,"

The skin on the bridge of Eridan's nose crinkled into a snarl as an undeniable level of aggression went into opening the door… but he said nothing.

Klunk!

The door opened anticlimactically and the three prepared to climb out but before they could, Terezi barred the entrance.

"I'm not letting the pair of you out there until I'm confident that you aren't going to fuck up the mission by arguing," she hissed, sounding annoyed.

"An' howw the fuck are you wwantin' us to showw you that?"

"Eridan, apologise for being a bigoted hemospectrumist, and Karkat, apologise for being a nosy wind up merchant,"

"No, I'm sorry, but he literally fucking started it! He suddenly hates my fucking guts for this stupid mutation I was born with!" Karkat spat, jabbing his finger at the high-blood's chest.

"It's not my fault I didn't knoww wwhat you are!"

"It's not my fault either! You think I like being like this? As soon as I could walk I was kept inside and hidden from everyone else. Told to hide from other kids, that if I fell and cut myself I'd be fucking _killed_. Heard the shit people said whenever a mutant-blood was found and culled.

'And then I was kidnapped and moved here, and I was told that I didn't have to be fucking scared anymore. I actually got to talk to people and it's fucking great. And I'm not going to let you ruin all this because of some stupid highblood shit. So fuck you if you suddenly hate me because of something so stupid."

The other two trolls simply stared at him, clearly not expecting the outburst.

"Kar, I – "

"No, fuck you Eridan. I thought we were friends, but you've made your stance pretty fucking clear. You're a stone-cold piece of shit and I can't even stand to look at your pathetic face anymore,"

"Kar, I'm sorry can't wwe just talk about this?"

"You made you option pretty damn fucking clear,"

"Well I'm not going to lie, this isn't the result I was expecting," Terezi said, a half-hearted attempt to lighten the situation. "Look, just don't put your fall out before the mission, okay? I don't want to get the Condesce on my back for your mistakes,"

Karkat turned his head angrily away, whereas Eridan avoided her gaze.

"Jeez! Okay, can we just have an agreement from you two? You can talk it out when you get back, but until then just act as if you're acquaintances, got it?"

Terezi peered about the corridor before them, hopped out, then signalled to the other two that the coast was clear.

' _Which direction_?' Eridan asked Kanaya, to which she replied left.

As they jogged, the suits shifted colours and patterns to blend into the environment and break up their forms, though at the end of the day their obnoxious candy-corn horns still gave them away. Karkat was thankful, however, that his horns were small and easily concealed, unlike those of Terezi and Eridan, whose were both over a foot long.

A clinical feeling clung to the walls, which was not at all aided by the strong stench of antiseptics.

"Why are there so few rooms?" Karkat asked after passing only two doors before reaching the staircase.

"Big rooms?" Terezi suggested.

After climbing several flights of stairs (at least seven according to Karkat), Kanaya ordered them to stop, and Eridan began to prise open the hatch, pausing occasionally to wipe sweat off his brow.

Pop!

A wave of strong light rushed through the open door and into the eyes of Karkat and Eridan, dazzling them as they stumbled blindly through before shutting the door. Outside was a beautiful view of the open ocean, with turbulent water and a bright overcast sky as far as the eye could see, broken only by the distant form of a seabird.

Water crashed up at the sides of the structure that soaked the collection of refugees clustered about in boats below, but only the faintest of splashes reached the three at the top and did nothing to deter the two boys from admiring the view once their eyes had adapted. Terezi on the other hand had grown tired of it almost immediately, and reminded the pair that they were on a time sensitive mission with patrols about to catch them, in a harsh whisper.

After reaffirming with Kanaya that they were heading in the correct direction, the three crept along the narrow, exposed pathways that clung to the exterior of the artificial island like barnacles on a rock. The paths themselves confused the three, as while they seemed completely pointless for the inhabitants (there were far safer routes about the island on the inside), these had hand rails to prevent people falling into the ocean, as well as rubber and chicken wire on the floor itself to aid grip. Yet while undeniably well maintained, there was something about the paths that suggested they were not at all official.

Kanaya's instructions led them further up the path, and reminded them to keep an eye out for the 'angels', which the three decided was a cryptic reference to the guards they had. At the very least she reassured them that the angels were released on opposite days, and that the day they were breaking in on was not a day they were in service.

They finally reached a door, not unlike the other door that they entered through underwater.

"Does anyone else wwanna do this?" the seadweller asked but was met with a blank stare from Karkat.

"You have been a bit of a shit today, I think you kinda…" Terezi began to say, before her ears perked up and she swung her head to look to their left. Going by the alarm on her face, Eridan began working on the lock without any further complaint. After a few moments she threw her arms back to shield the pair, and whispered, "Hurry up!"

Eridan pursed his lips from the strain on his muscles before the door opened, and felt an unexpected shove upon his back as the boys fell on top of each other into the relative safety of the corridor.

"Run!" she ordered.

As soon as the teal-blood slammed the door shut behind her, Karkat leapt to the window, only to be met with the form of a strange creature drifting past, with a body tens of metres long made of what appeared to be white chiffon-like cloth, though the face had passed by the time he caught a glimpse. Regardless of the face however, something about it deeply unsettled the pair in a way they could not understand.

Wait…

Fuck! Terezi, where was she? In the rush Karkat had not fully understood how he had gotten inside. Had the monster outside grabbed her?

"Shit!" Karkat cried, reaching for the handle, only to be stopped by Eridan.

"She said run! Are you fuckin' deaf?"

At this Karkat whipped round to face him and snarled, "I'm not leaving her out there, you heartless bulgefondler!"

"Wwe hawen't got a choice! She barred the door…" All the colour then drained from Eridan's face, which was amplified by the light being blocked from the window. "A-an' for a fuckin' good reason," He grabbed Karkat's hand and tugged him into a sprint down the corridor. The door's small window was being obscured by a hellish mess of snout and enormous teeth.

A hasty conversation was sent back and forth to Kanaya, who informed him that the Condesce had decided they would be more efficient if they were not scared of the base's guard dogs, which was bullshit in Karkat's opinion.

Had it not been for Eridan knowing the directions, Karkat would let go of his hand but unfortunately had no choice. Eridan must have picked up on this reluctance, as he whispered, "I'm sorry, Karkat. I wwould hawe stopped her if I had knowwn,"

"Just shut the fuck up,"

"I knoww it's hard, but you're gonna hawe to focus,"

"The fuck do you know? You've never had to worry about anything,"

"A' course I hawe shit to wworry about,"

"You've never had anything to worry about other than yourself, you pompous twat,"

"Really, you wwant to do this noww?"

"Why not!"

"I wwas fuckin' stressin' about you drowwnin' earlier today, or did you forget that?"

"Being worried about failing the mission hardly counts," Karkat whispered back, while they rested for a minute. The connection to Kanaya had cut out, thus there was nothing they could do. A map really would have been useful…

"You think I only sawed you because of that?" Eridan laughed, exasperated at the mutant-blood before him. "I knoww I hawen't exactly been rollin' out the wwelcome wwagon but wwoww,"

"Why won't you just shut up already? Terezi is probably dead and your fucking pathetic attempt at emphasising with me is just rubbing it all in!"

"I'm not _attempting_ to emphasise, I _am_ emphasising,"

"As if you've ever fucking experienced loss besides your shitty attempts at getting a partner,"

"Don't you fuckin' start that again," Eridan snarled before receiving signal from Kanaya once more, and motioning which way to go. "Besides, eweryone and their mother knowws you're obsessed wwith Ter, and wwhere has that gotten you? She's certainly takin' pity on you, but not the right kind!"

"What, like Feferi and Vriska?" At this, Eridan visibly cringed as if he had been hit. "What?"

"It's nothin', just keep mowin',"

Before long they ended up outside again, with Karkat for once being very pleased about Eridan's trigger happy attitude. Every noise seemed to be one of the monsters approaching, prompting the most silent creeping they had ever attempted.

Suddenly Karkat could hear a slight crinkling noise on the breeze, the same noise he had previously heard before the arrival of the angel, and had dismissed as their clothing. Of course now he remembered that their clothing did not rustle.

He tapped on Eridan's shoulder and indicated behind them, and surely enough in the distance was a white haze approaching.

In less than a second, Eridan had pulled the gun from his shoulder and sent a blast from the Ahab's Crosshairs towards the angel. With a soft sigh, the creature disintegrated.

They clambered back inside through an open window, gasping for a few seconds at the relief of being safe, before turning and realising what room they were in.

"This is where we're supposed to be, right?" whispered Karkat.

"I don't know, Kar, something seems fishy about this,"

The mutant-blood snorted, "Everything is fishy to you, you're a fucking fish,"

Filing cabinets occupied most of the space, with a computer in the centre of the room (they ignored this, as neither knew the first thing about getting into computers, despite what Karkat might have said). The scenario reminded Eridan of a mission Vriska told him about, and hopefully their mission would go as well as theirs, but for added security they had both made sure to activate the mask function of the suit.

First step was… oh.

"Eridan, what are we actually doing here?"

Frowning, Eridan turned, "Oh yeah, I forgot. The Condesce thinks one of… us is feedin' the enemies information, so wwe're here to find any ewidence,"

"Oh, sure. Couldn't we just hack into their servers though?"

"Wwell no, or wwe wwould hawe," the seadweller replied. "Kar, somethin' seriously doesn't feel right,"

On the desk was an almost strategically placed manila folder.

' _Get out of there_!' Kanaya whispered urgently.

Fuck it. Eridan barrelled towards Karkat, grabbed him round the waist and began to make a dash for the exit when an angel appeared, blocking the window but making no attempt to enter the room.

The pair turned to the other windows, but found that they too were guarded. An attempt at the door was made but it would not budge, and Terezi had used Eridan's door hack to seal the angel outside, ironically enough.

"Shit," Karkat hissed while Eridan bit back an 'I told you so'.

Suddenly the angels swooped in, circling the pair until they were back to back in the centre of the room.

Clack!

The door swung open and in rushed a torrent of soldiers, who searched then bound the mutants until they could do no more than wiggle a little from side to side in an attempt to get up from the chairs they had been tied to. Once the pair were bound, the angels left the room, and soon after, following behind the soldiers was none other than the president of the United States.

"I'm surprised, I didn't think it would be this easy to capture you!" he smiled. "Two more of seahitler's little soldiers to add to the collection. At least you're not those insectoid ones again. At least I don't think so, can't tell with those masks. I've actually met some of your kind before, believe it or not. I had a trio of you break into my dinner party,"

"The fuck is this? Scooby Doo?" Karkat snarled. "Cut to the chase already,"

With a cold stare, the president walked up to Karkat and jabbed a pair of fingers just under the mutant's chin, forcing the scales that covered him to move back into their dormant position, exposing his angry, flushed face.

"Oh, a maroon-blood. Well I'm not going to lie, I assumed that bitch thought a little bit more of my defences than to send in such a tiny rust blood, but I guess – "

"You shut the fuck up," Eridan interrupted angrily.

"I was getting to you, calm down," the man sighed, and jabbed at the suit again, then paused with a gobsmacked grin. "Eridan Ampora! Is this for real?"

"Wwhat's it to you?"

"Fuck!" the man burst into laughter, then poked his head into the corridor. "Hey! Suenne, look at this!"

"Oh my god! It's that kid! What's-his-name, the one every prepubescent girl had a crush on," the woman presumably called Suenne gasped, before joining the president in laughter.

"Look at you! No wonder you fell off the radar, you became a fucking freak! Oh god, I can't even believe this. You know, you know my little girl used to have pictures of you all over her bedroom. Even had a pair of underwear with you on, you should really have spoken to your marketing team about that,"

"Can I touch it?" one of the crowd who had clustered behind the president asked, referring to Eridan's skin, then poked his cheek anyway. "That's so gross!"

"Can I have a picture with it?" another asked.

From the corner of his eye, Karkat noticed Eridan's face flushing purple from shame as his head hung forward. He was the picture of humiliation, and had this been any other situation, Karkat would probably have left him to suffer, but fuck he looked so pitiful.

"Lay off him, you tribe of nooksuckers. He's a human being, not a fucking museum exhibit," he snapped.

"There's no use shouting stupid remarks, kid. Your kind flooded this planet, this is the last of your worries compared to what you'll be experiencing later,"

"You don't have to make it personal,"

"Personal? You killed millions! That's pretty fucking personal if you ask me," one of the crowd snarled, and darted forwards, punching Karkat straight in the nose, before being held back by the soldiers. "My family are dead because of you, you sons of bitches!"

Crimson blood began to slowly drip down Karkat's upper lip, and the only thought in his mind was 'not again'. The crowd recoiled in disgust and fear at the sight of his blood, while Karkat attempted to wipe it from his face onto the fabric of his shoulder.

Upon hearing a soft sigh from his right, Karkat turned to see Eridan giving him a sympathetic look, and though he would have normally looked away, he could not help but hold eye contact with the one person in the room not jeering at him. How ironic that it would be Eridan this time.

"Get them to the cells, we've got stuff to learn, and I've got to be back for tea with my husband and kids before seven," the president ordered, and with that the pair were hauled into the air, leading a menacing conga-line back down into the heart of the tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Basically, imagine if a super freaky spy broke into the Whitehouse or whatever, and it was like zefron or harry styles, that's why they're all so amused u:


	9. Baby Birds, Bath Bombs and Bonding

Small amounts of blue light filtered in through the window, a soothing awakening for Eridan. To his left was a large round window with a silhouette seated before it, and to his right, a hefty looking door. It took him another few seconds to realise that he was lying on the floor, and another ten for the pain to kick in.

"Aaahhhh," he hissed under his breath, reaching a tentative hand to his ear.

"You finally woke up, I was about to kick you," the silhouette rumbled.

"Kar?" Eridan asked. The figure turned to face Eridan, and it was indeed the mutant-blood. "Kar, wwhat did they do to my ear?"

"Probably took the communication device out," he shrugged. "I didn't want to get my hands dirty by fucking about in your ear though, or what you seadwellers call ears."

Sitting up, Eridan noticed the wadded up blanket beneath his head and allowed himself a small smile.

"Thanks,"

"Don't mention it. Literally. Tell anyone and I swear to fucking God I will rip out your intestines and use them to dangle you before the sharks there doubtless are here,"

"Jeez, calm dowwn. Wway to take a nice comment,"

The pair had been stripped of the fancy scale suits, which had been replaced by a warm jumpsuit and slip on shoes, not unlike those worn at the retainment organisation. Though a quick wiggle confirmed to Eridan that he had only underwear beneath.

Despite the thick cloth of the jumpsuit, he still found himself shivering a little, in stark contrast to the pulsating heat from his ear. Truth be told, he was rather glad to have the communication device out of his ear: it tracked his location and picked up anything he said, no matter how softly it was said. Quite the invasion of privacy.

Upon noticing Karkat shaking, Eridan decided the lowblood could do with the blanket more than him, draped it round his shoulders and took a seat on the ground opposite, joining him in staring out of the window. The other mutant gave him a half hearted glare, but accepted the gift.

The light that reached the depth they were at was meagre, but enough to just about pick up the barnacles and anemones beginning to take root on the glass. Occasionally small fish would come to pick at the glass, but other than that very little life came to visit, which was surprising given how they were on the seafloor.

"Wwonder wwhy this prison has such big wwindowws,"

"Because if you were stupid enough to break the window, you'd just drown,"

"You wwould? Oh yeah, keep forgettin' you guys dont hawe gills," Eridan said, which Karkat responded to with an eye roll and a loud annoyed sigh.

"Yeah, normal people can't swim upwards for twenty fucking minutes without being dead, nooksucker,"

Eridan chuckled to himself, then sat and stared out the window for a while longer. After ten minutes, he turned, confused at how unusually quiet his companion was being, and asked, "Hey, wwhat's got your attention out there?"

At this, Karkat visibly tensed up.

"Mind your own fucking business,"

Oh. So he was definitely looking at something then. Eridan scrunched up his eyes and scanned the area for the offending object, then found exactly what he was looking for once he got up and casually walked over to Karkat's side of the room.

"Kar, I... it's probably not hers, okay?"

On the sea floor about ten metres away was a solitary diving mask.

"Whose else's is it gonna fucking be?" Karkat roared, turning to face Eridan. "She could barely see even with it on in the water, so without it I..."

"Kar," Eridan put a hand on the smaller trolls shoulder. "This is Terezi wwe're talkin' about. If anyone could get back to safety after fallin' blindly into the ocean, it's her,"

Karkat said nothing, which was not necessarily a bad thing.

"Don't wworry, it'll be okay. Just try not to think about it too much,"

"Fucking quality advice, thank you," Karkat shot back. "Just shut the fuck up already, you have no idea what I'm going through,"

At this, something in Eridan snapped.

"I knoww exactly wwhat you're goin' through if not wworse!" the seadweller snarled. "Wwhy the fuck do you think I got put wwith a pair of landdwwellers instead a' Fef for a fuckin' underwwater mission? They took Fef wwhen my leg got busted, an' wwe hawe no idea wwhere she is, or wwho has her. The last thin' I heard from her wwas her screamin' into the mic. So... so..." Eridan turned away.

"Oh,"

"At least there's a good chance that Terezi is aliwe and free,"

"Fuck, man, I'm sorry,"

"It's okay, you didn't knoww. An' I wwas bein' a dick to you,"

They were quiet for a bit, then Karkat said, "Feferi could easily rip apart a person in half her bare hands, I'm sure she's fine." Eridan nodded. "In fact, she's probably coming to rescue our sorry asses right now,"

"Kar, sorry about all the shit I said. I didn't really mean it. I'm stressed as fuck right noww, and, wwell I used to wwanna kill all landdwwellers but, you're actually not so bad,"

"Pff, thanks, well while we're aboard the sad sap's apology train, sorry for making you ask out Feferi, I fucked up your relationship big time,"

"Don't wworry about it. It gawe me some closure. I'd been crushin' on her and doin' nothin' about it for ower a decade, it wwas about time," Eridan replied with a smile.

"Hitting on Sollux was pretty weak though, not going to lie. Like of all the fucking bulgemunchers to rebound on!"

"Kar, you a' all people should recognise someone tryin' to pull someone into an auspitse role! I thought I could get Fef back into a quadrant wwith me, ewen if it wwas jus' that I'd be happy. I jus' miss her. I mean, I hate Sol's guts sure, but in a pure and platonic wway... if that's ewen a thin'..."

At that, something inside Karkat relaxed for some reason.

"Look at us, feelin' jammin' like old times. Fuck, I hope ewerythin's back to normal wwith us,"

Karkat pouted, "You're not off the hook that easily, Ampora. But yeah, we're okay,"

"Wwhat about you and Ter anywway? Don't think I didn't catch you twwo holdin' hands," Eridan teased, though his heart did not seem to be into it.

"I don't know... What you said about her pitying me but in the wrong way is true, I think. I just... I think its a similar thing to you and Fef. Can't fault her but..."

"I wwas just lashin' out, don't read too much into wwhat I said,"

"It's true though, I just can't believe it took me this fucking long to accept it. I mean, no I don't really want to be yapping on about a nonexistent relationship with someone who could be dead,"

"Fair enough,"

"Anyway, are you sure you haven't moved on since Feferi? And I mean properly, not just halfheartedly asking everyone out because you're 'lonely' or whatever,"

"Wwhat? Wwhy?" Eridan replied apprehensively.

"Because it seemed like you have? I think I know you well enough to be able to tell!"

"Uh, Kar, okay that is none a' your business,"

"Why? It's usually my business,"

"I just really don't wwanna talk about it right noww,"

"So you have moved on then?"

"Fuck,"

Karkat, upon realising that this was an uncomfortable topic for him, went for the jugular. After all, Eridan had been a hemospectrumist bigot to him all day, so he kind of deserved it.

"Come on, I've spilled my secrets. Literally,"

"Wwell blood colour types is sort a' different,"

A similar such conversation went back and forth for a good half hour, with Karkat attempting to wear Eridan down into submission, and Eridan slowly getting more and more fed up by the mutant-blood's seemingly endless pool of energy.

"Kar, stop it,

"No, man, tell me. We haven't gossiped in fucking forever, I won't judge you,"

"Ahaha, yeah I think you wwill," he laughed sarcastically.

"Why, is it the Condesce?"

"Eww, ewen I hawe limits,"

"Is it Kanaya?" Karkat asked, nose wrinkling in disgust at the very idea of them dating. "No, fuck it, if it's Kanaya I don't want to know,"

"It's not Kanaya, she's practically my mom, that wwould be gross. Just stop already, you're not gonna like it. Drop it,"

"You know full fucking well that just makes me wanna know more," Karkat snorted. "Come on dude, you know I'm not gonna drop it until you say, so you may as well spill. It's not like we've got anything else going on while we sit in this damp prison cell,"

"No,"

"Tell me,"

"No, leawe me alone already,"

"I'll stop bugging you I promise," Karkat smirked. "As soon as you tell me,"

"I've lasted like an hour, I can last another few," Eridan sighed, though he was getting weak and the need to get it off his chest was strong, and was only intensified around his number one gossip buddy.

"Please, there you go the magic word. That enough for you, your highness?"

"Kar, stop,"

"Who is it?" Karkat nagged a final time, and the barriers that kept Eridan thinking clearly broke, and before Karkat had fully registered what was going on he noticed he someone was kissing him. That someone was Eridan, whose eyes quickly widened with fear as he scrambled back to the relative safety of the back corner of the room.

"Fuck, Kar, I'm sorry I didn't mean to, I..." Eridan stammered in a panic. "Fuck, fuck, fuck,"

Karkat, in a daze, said nothing.

"I'm sorry, I fucked up, shit,"

Still no response.

"Wwell say somethin', please! Actually no, don't say anythin'... I mean, fuck," The violet-blood tugged at his hair nervously, refusing to so much as lift his head and meet Karkats confused gaze.

"Well, uh, I can see why you didn't want to say,"

"Kar, I'm sorry, it just happened, I didn't mean to,"

"Just shut up for a minute, Ampora," Karkat said, and Eridan indeed did.

This was an interesting development. In all honesty, Karkat had never thought for a minute that Eridan would be attracted to him; for a start, he was a lowly mutant-blood and Eridan a Prince. There was simply no chance of anything working, not in the least because Eridan could live for centuries and Karkat would likely be culled in a few years if he was _lucky,_ and that was if he was not killed by the people at the base first.

In fact, Karkat had never even considered the idea that he could be into other men, let alone Eridan: he had not really been interested in romance beyond books before he was taken into the retainment society, and as soon as he had begun noticing other people, he only had eyes for Terezi. Sure he could identify who the attractive ones of the group were, but he by no means experienced attraction to anyone but the teal-blood.

But now that he thought about it, he and Eridan had always got along incredibly well, they rarely fought, shared many of the same interests, and Karkat had never found Eridan as annoying as everyone else seemed to. And hell, Eridan was unreasonably attractive, there were no two ways about that fact.

Karkat looked over to Eridan's sullen form and his chest felt funny.

' _I could certainly do worse,_ " he told himself.

Plus, if they somehow made it out alive from this mess and everything went back to normal, having the protection of a violet-blooded boyfriend certainly would not hurt. The president of the US for example was only an indigo-blood... then again they _were_ mutants, so blood status did not count for shit.

And what about Terezi? Karkat had been essentially in love with her for two years now! Though he was pretty certain she and Gamzee had a blossoming kismesis going on... and she was probably dead.

Oh...

Fuck it, if they were going to rot in a cell he may as get something good out of the mess.

Karkat slowly stood up and padded over to where Eridan sat and plonked himself down beside him. As soon as his mind caught up with what he was about to do, his body started shaking with uncontrollable nerves.

At the sound of Karkat sitting, Eridan looked up and found the the other mutant looming very close to him.

"I'm sorry, Kar, please don't be mad,"

And this time to Eridan's surprise, it was Karkat who scrunched his eyes shut, grabbed the violet-blood's chin and planted a kiss on his lips... or attempted to anyway. The nerves resulted in Karkat missing, and leaving a kiss on his cheek instead.

They both stared at each other owlishly for a few seconds, then burst out into laughter, before Karkat plucked up the courage once more and leant in, this time managing to kiss Eridan on the lips.

It was a new experience for them both: Karkat because that had been his first kiss, and Eridan because he was only used to the somewhat painful hate-smooches. The somewhat more experienced violet-blood made sure to keep the kiss slow and soft so as to not startle Karkat, and rubbed small circles into the base of the mutant-blood's back with his thumbs to try and calm Karkat out of his nervous trembling. After a few seconds of this, the mutant-blood shifted, placing his hands on Eridan's waist and pressed him ever so slightly up against the wall, prompting a soft moan to fall from the violet-blood's lips.

At this Karkat stopped completely still, the fog over his mind clearing as he realised what he was doing, and the implications of it.

Well damn.

The boy beneath him looked up with heavy-lidded eyes and an intense purple flush showing through the grey on his face. His expression spoke volumes, of being putty beneath Karkat's hands (hell it was clear that he would do virtually anything his partner would say to keep them in a relationship with him), of the emotions rushing through his system (affection, longing and definitely a sliver of fear) and at the same time how he was also somewhat certain that the mutant-blood was about to run off somewhere.

This was Eridan. Eridan who's only relationship had been dysfunctional, and all others had turned him down in a variety of over-the-top and occasionally down right cruel ways (though admittedly they were mostly justified). His confidence, although he strutted about like a peacock, was just short of abysmally low, and the last thing he needed was someone who was his best friend deciding to play the happy couple with him before running off with someone else, not to mention... oh...

Karkat's ability to think clear left once more as Eridan began to press light kisses down his jaw, before nuzzling his face into the mutant-blood's neck.

"Kar, I-"

Suddenly, rapidly approaching footsteps, and the pair leapt apart to opposite sides of the room, or rather Karkat did, for Eridan was too flustered and content to stand properly.

"Fuck, they can't find us like this! What in the shitblisteringly ever loving fuck was I thinking doing that here, they'll separate us!" Karkat muttered frantically, yet Eridan said nothing, seemingly on a completely different plane of existence.

With a soft sigh, the door slid into the wall, and a guard appeared.

"You're to be questioned now," she said. "My team and I are going to tie you up and carry you, blindfolded, to the location,"

The pair glanced at each other, but said nothing; compliance was the best option at this point.

* * *

**== Whoa okay, um, well be Vriska I guess?**

You are now Vriska Serket, and you have been walking through the dark for an hour.

Walking beside the train tracks was oddly peaceful, and Vriska wondered whether it was simply a part of growing older that she found herself enjoying it. The sunset had been gorgeous, and watching the golden orb slide slowly down beneath the path before her brought a simple contentment to her body. Soon the stars claimed their place in the endless blue overhead, and the moon began it's travelling for the night.

Watching the astral movements reminded her of a quote from a book her grandmother had given her, a book she now knew to be a gift from the Summoner to Mindfang. While the exact phrasing eluded her, it spoke of a little prince who watched several sunsets in a row, and later commented on how one loves sunsets when one is sad. Vriska decided that could well be true.

Living in a run down urban area had denied Vriska such simple pleasures as watching the stars or sunsets, and she found herself oddly thankful for the chance to experience them.

Now bathed in the light of a full moon, the path before her was almost as clear as daylight, though the air carried a strong chill to it, resulting in both sweaters being knotted securely about her shaking frame.

The route she was taking had travelled roughly at sea level for a while before travelling up into the mountains, with an area of flat land extending a few metres to either side of the track. On one side the mountain began, full of natural caves and shelter if one could manage the hike, and on the other side, a steep drop travelling down and down until it reached the ocean, with only a small row of hardy trees between the track and the edge.

Alongside the path she could hear crickets chirping merrily, a silly thing that comforted her an unreasonable amount due to her solitude. Though despite this she carried her fluorite octet firmly in her hand, unclenching them only when stopping for water.

Vriska had decided to march through the night then camp in the daytime as it was safest. While she could disguise herself as a human, it required a fair amount of energy: energy that would be better spent on the journey ahead.

A number of people passed Vriska on the path, but she chose to hide for the most part. A few spotted her, and quickly found themselves marching off down the tracks with an odd case of brief amnesia.

Thinking about the way the planet once was was strange. Vriska imagined trains hurtling past her across the tracks, and wondered what she would be doing now if she had not become mutated. She decided she would likely have saved up enough money from the siphoning to escape, perhaps with her sister, but aside from that she had not a clue. What was she good at? Maybe scamming people, especially with her powers... but that was not a career.

Sailing had always been a blast, possibly because she wanted to be a pirate so much when she was a kid... and also now... Well, sailing was a start. Maybe one day when the mess was over she could rent a boat and travel for a while: the world was mostly water now after all, or even more so anyway.

Tavros... definitely someone who would help people or conservation, she could definitely imagine him out in a rainforest up to his waist in mud to aid a small bird. There was a certain quality to him where he would gladly make sacrifices to aid others for no gain; something Vriska almost completely lacked, and though it was certainly not something she would do, she found that quality in him somewhat... endearing?

' _Fuck, I'm going soft_ ,' she decided, and remembered a song from a film she loved as a kid.

"If there's a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I already won that..." she sang absentmindedly.

Singing raised her spirits tenfold, and she wiggled and danced her way down the tracks for a while, somewhat embarrassed at her inability to hit the right notes until she remembered no one could hear her.

In fact, she was so distracted at belting out how she was the dancing queen (young and sweet, only seventeen) that she failed to notice the faint rustling coming from ahead.

Out of the bushes leapt one of the strange mutated fauna that roamed about the area. It was a large mountain lion, with short silky fur and several painful looking spikes protruding through its fur, presumably through mutation. Blood was oozing through the infected crust surrounding the base and the stench nearly made Vriska vomit.

With barely a moment to spare, Vriska cast her dice and thanked her lucky stars that the attack which materialised was a series of flintlock pistols suspended in midair until she needed them.

Driven mad from pain and potentially hunger, the lion showed no fear at this display, and instead continued to charge forward, getting increasingly frustrated by Vriska's quick sidestepping. Were she not carrying all of the weight on her back, she could easily have dealt with the creature by now, but as it were, Vriska was slower than usual, and this drew the attack on longer and longer until she cast off the bag behind her into the bushes.

Grabbing a pistol, she span on her heel and faced the beast head on, though the sight of a furious mountain lion running towards her understandably startled the cerulean-blood, sending a bullet into its foot instead of its skull like she was aiming to.

The creature yowled in pain but continued its charge, and before Vriska could dodge it pounced on her claws sinking deep into the flesh on her shoulders. In the split second she had before the lion mangled her to death, she cast the dice once more and heard the sound of the guns clicking before bullets sprayed into the beast, with a number of shots grazing by her skin, her screams adding to that from the mutated animal.

Eventually, the grip the cat had on her lessened as it collapsed on top of her. With a groan she pushed it up off her, moaning and wincing at the vivid pulsating pain travelling through her body at the use of her shoulder muscles. After a long thirty seconds of shoving, the animal fell to the ground beside her and she curled into a ball, the only sound she could make, a long high-pitched gasp.

Vriska was not certain how long she lay there in agony, though as the sun began to peek over the ocean the pain had started to ebb back a bit, and thus she hobbled over to where her bag had been dropped and rummaged through it for the first aid kits, stripping her upper half down to a vest and placing the sleeve of her jumpsuit between her teeth before pouring iodine into the wounds.

The pain from the cleaning and bandaging processes caused her to hiss violently into the cloth, but there was no alternative. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she hoisted the rusksack back onto her shoulders, and after cutting the good meat from the creature, she kicked it repeatedly for a good minute before shoving its corpse over the ledge.

Though much weird and wonderful wildlife existed in Britain, there had never been anything much worse than the odd mutant fox to worry about when walking out in the countryside, thus Vriska had completely forgotten that in the rest of the world, things were very different. The lesson had been learnt, however, and Vriska merely hoped that the wounds would not get infected. Fatigue had long since set in, however, and so she hiked a short while away from the tracks until she found a small natural cave, and set up camp.

A fine dinner of mountain lion with cactus was enjoyed, and Vriska decided that she would not tell Tavros of the attack, for the gloating she would get as a result would be unbearable. Perhaps she should have heeded his warning about the dangerous fauna of the region, but she had assumed he was just being overly anxious for hers and Sollux's sakes. Evidently not.

Before settling down for the night she made her best effort to block the majority of the entrance with rocks to deter people and other predators, making sure to leave some gaps to allow air in, for while she knew fire used oxygen to burn, she could not remember if embers also required it, and suffocating would be a boring way to go.

But despite the relative warmth and comfort, she found herself unable to sleep due to the pain in her shoulders and the fear that another mountain lion would find her and attack while she slept.

The immense loneliness hit her again, and now she was alone she curled into a ball and sobbed openly. It was odd, Vriska thought that the years apart would make it easier yet she still missed her family, and god but she missed Sollux, the Handmaid and Tavros... especially Tavros, fuck did she miss him, and she did not even have Eridan this time to distract from that. Those gentle smiles, the unending well of patience and kindness towards everything, the warmth the bronze-blood radiated even on the rare occasions that he was mad just... just...

Vriska needed a hug, but there was no one around so she held herself as the sobs shook her body.

After several hours had passed, the cerulean-blood grew so exhausted that she unwillingly slipped into a deep sleep, one that she may not have woken up from had luck not been on her side.

**== Be Vriska when she wakes**

You are now Vriska Serket once more, and it is almost sunrise.

Vriska woke to the sky growing lighter, and realised she must have slept almost twenty hours. The pain in her shoulders was pulsing and writhing, so intensely even that she almost didn't recognise that she had only woken due to someone tapping her on the shoulder.

She squinted at the space before her, unable to make much out until she quickly fumbled about to find her glasses and saw none other than... a rock that had fallen overnight and knocked her awake... oh.

Well that was useless. Vriska cleared away the camping supplies before pulling the rucksack back on and continuing her journey. While walking she ate the leftovers from the mountain lion, deciding that they were not likely to emerge in the daytime, though made sure to keep herself hidden, even more so than previously, as due to the wounds, Vriska was not in the best mental state and she was well aware of it.

While she had a good supply of medical equipment, it was less than ideal to use it all on the one wound, and so she decided to keep an eye out for similar refugees hiding in the caves so she could steal their first aid kits.

For lunch, she ate more cold meat from the lion joint she had cooked the day before, joined by a rather bruised peach that was none the less delicious. After a day of trekking, she was already almost out of water and she found herself worrying about how she would survive when the heat was only increasing and the wind dropped and the clouds were chased off by the sun.

By midday Vriska could barely walk straight, having drunk a good deal of the water with the sun at it's highest point of the day. She was immensely dehydrated, and decided the best course of action would be to find the people hiding in caves and steal their supplies.

While keeping an eye out for smoke from possible camps, Vriska decided it was a damn shame that she could not see through walls with her spider eye. Suddenly, Vriska's gaze caught a rising pillar of smoke coming from one of the caves, a cave which had been blocked in by a wall of rocks, similar to Vriska's, though many had been torn away.

She deftly scaled the mountainous terrain, forgetting how weak her muscles were in the excitement, before ripping the stones obscuring the cave away and promptly gagging. All that was left of the previous inhabitant was a pool of blood and some rotten meat, and Vriska deduced that the mountain lions had possibly attacked more people than just her. A few tufts of fur caught on the rocks about the entrance added to her theory, and assumed that the poor soul had been dragged off.

To her luck though, there were a number of supplies left behind, including a six-pack of water bottles, and upon rummaging about in their rucksack, a small but full first aid kit.

While chewing on some dried meat she had found, Vriska slowly peeled back the soiled bandages from her shoulders, (recalling the hours she had spent changing Tavros's from their time in the village) and massaged the nanobot-aided antibiotic cream into her wounds. Although the gouges in her shoulders were no where near healed, the local anaesthetic kicked in and she found herself feeling blissfully well, helped by the nanobots that rapidly set to work, working alongside the permanent ones in her body.

Due to the mountain lion wound, her calves had been amazingly stiff as the nanobots focussed their energies elsewhere, though not as bad as they usually were... perhaps they were finally almost done healing. Regardless, she was feeling better, and as such began to walk further, keeping an eye out for anymore caves.

**== Skip to something interesting!**

You are now Vriska Serket several days later, still travelling through the mountains.

It was at this point that Vriska saw another subtle smoke trail coiling up into the sky, and this time scaled the walls as softly as possible to avoid alerting a potential attacker of her presence.

Above her was another cave opening, this time unblocked with a much larger entrance. Perhaps they had only just gotten set up?

A hefty climb later, the cerulean-blood had grabbed onto the ledge, panting slightly and ready to pull herself up. Unfortunately for her, a sharp stick was suddenly thrust out of the entrance to the cave, almost making her lose her balance before a hand reached out and pulled her in.

To her disbelief a familiar face greeted her.

"Sollux?" she hissed. "The fuck are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are _you_ doing here?" he shot back, before the relief at seeing a friendly face got to them, and the pair hugged each other tightly.

"Don't tell a word of this to anyone," Vriska mumbled into his shoulder.

"Agreed,"

For a few minutes they clung to each other, both so relieved to not be going the journey alone, and glad to see a somewhat friendly face.

Sollux looked much the same as he did a few days ago, yet his features looked far more haggard and there was a hunger in his gaze that clearly told her he had not eaten in days.

The mutants sat around the remnants of the fire and chewed on some jerky Vriska scavenged, before explaining the situation.

"I went to go check on HM and Tavroth a bit after you thet off again, which ith when I found the guardth. I found the clue Tavroth had left and I athumed you'd left it for me to thee where you'd gone, tho I left it and thet off,"

"With no food or water?" Vriska snorted. "You'd have made it far,"

"I did alright," he shrugged. "I was overheated, I had a migraine and thit had just gone down, tho I panicked, bite me,"

"With pleasure," she drawled. "No but seriously, that was a stupid move,"

"You don't have to rub it in, athhole,"

With Sollux now joining her, Vriska felt a dozen times more confident about the journey ahead, and pulled the smaller bag out from inside the rucksack, filled it with a share of supplies, then gave it to Sollux, careful to hide the fact that she had kept Tinkerbull. The pack was deliciously lighter now.

"So what's the plan?" she asked. "I'm assuming youve been hiding in the day and travelling at night?"

"Yeah, though there are tho many feral animalth, ethpecially mountain lionth, it'th inthane,"

"Tell me about it," Vriska grumbled, "I take it you're just fine though?"

"Yeah, you don't lothe tho much water at night, it'th not that bad,"

Sollux napped a while longer while Vriska sat guard and munched on grilled cactus. She wished she could say she hated them, but they were honestly delicious and full of liquid, the ideal food. Though it would not surprise her in the least if she discovered that the cacti were actually poisonous and they had messed up their insides by eating them so compulsively. Still, better than starving.

When night finally fell, the pair continued their journey, and the walking was substantially easier with a shared load and company. Vriska gave the second sweater to Sollux, who accepted it somewhat gratefully (he decided that though he was confident enough in his masculinity to wear a girls top, he would have preferred something more manly; Vriska asked if he would have preferred a top of a beefy, well armed guy riding a tiger before an explosion, which resulted in a smirk).

The ocean looked beautiful with the moon reflecting off it's surface, and they were so far up in the mountains that the light pollution was minimal, resulting in an arm of the Milky Way stretching above them, with a smattering of stars. For most of the journey they did not speak, instead choosing to walk arm in arm (for warmth they would assert firmly when asked later) and let the cricket song fill the air as they ate the last of the peaches Vriska had bought. Occasionally they would see ghost like owls fly past, accompanied by the shrill squeak of its prey.

At around three in the morning, the pair came across a train station, one which appeared to be severely run down even before all the mess that happened. After checking to see that the building was abandoned, they had a break to check the map on the wall and found to their delight a shortcut over the mountains rather than their path that took them somewhat around the middle section.

Before setting off, the pair broke into the locked rooms, thanks to Sollux's optic blasts, in an attempt to find anything interesting. Small amounts of money had been stashed in a safe, which Vriska insisted upon taking 'just in case', as well as some ID cards and a staff water cooler. They were in luck; other travellers had been unable to break into the room due to the lack of tools available, but it had not been an issue for the two, and as such they each took a large water bottle, with Sollux shoving a few handfuls of instant coffee sachets in his pockets.

As daytime was approaching, they decided instead to climb up into attic area of the staff room after welding the main door shut, and found it to be comfy room to both of their surprise. With the blow up mattress, the pair slept like kings, their backs tentatively touching for warmth.

Sometime during the afternoon they were softly woken by the sound of voices, before the loud crash of someone trying to kick the door down filled the small room. The pair jolted upright.

"Will the door hold?" Vriska whispered.

"Probably," Sollux replied. "Can't you look through the floor at them?"

"I don't know, I'll try," But despite a minute of frantic staring and squinting at the floor, nothing of use happened. Vriska gave a somewhat nervous laugh, "If they get inside, I'll have to stare down from the ceiling and tell them to fuck off or whatever,"

"It thouldn't come to that though,"

The people in the corridor stuck about for the best part of a day, before eventually growing tired of their attempts to knock the door down, and left. To be certain, the pair waited up in the loft for another day, before climbing back down into the sealed room below. Once the thud of their feet hitting the ground echoed about the room, they could hear voices outside once more, and wished that the room or loft had windows they could escape from.

"We're thcrewed,"

The thick metal door had a series of strange protrusions on it that spoke of the hammer they had been using.

"Depending upon how many of them we are, I could sneak us out. If I can make my horns invisible then why not the rest of me?"

"In cathe you haven't noticed, I can't do that,"

"I know, you hide up there for a little bit longer, I'll draw them away then you go hide outside, it'll work great,"

Sollux mulled the plan over in his head before turning to the back wall and sliding his glasses up. His optic blasts began to cut a hole through the wall until a square just big enough for a human to fit through was cut, which he caught and softly lowered to the ground so no noise was made.

Shrugging, Vriska joined Sollux in ducking through the hole before full out sprinting away from the station. It seemed to their relief that the intruders had not realised the mutants had left the room, so they gained a strong head start.

"Fuck," Sollux wheezed after a few minutes. "Vrithka, thtop, they won't catch uth up,"

"I just want to be certain," she pouted, though slowed down into a light jog for the gold-blood's benefit.

Neither were in the condition to run anymore anyway. They slowed further into a walk, and Sollux pulled out the map they had taken from the shop. They had strayed from the correct path a little, though while it was nothing they could not fix with some off the trail hiking, the pair decided (eventually) that it was not worth the risk of getting lost. There were some paths that they could use after a few dozen kilometres anyway, which although slightly longer would be a far safer route.

The route took them on a beautifully scenic walk, with wild flowers and mountain views galore.

"Jerky is fucking gross," Vriska grumbled as she popped a piece in her mouth. Regrettably though, they needed to eat it to survive. "If everything goes back to normal, I swear I'm never touching this stuff again."

"At leatht it'th not thpam,"

For their second night together, they walked a while away from the path and put up the small tent beside the safety of a wall of rock. Vriska took the first shift and began cooking up a simple daal, using the lentils and spice packets from her bag. The sun was bright, and putting the solar cooker in a patch of sunlight set the sauce bubbling away in no time. Before long, she poured in the rice, waited for the grains to cook then switched the cooker off.

The food was pretty good, though nothing compared to the amazing dishes made at the retainment organisation. At the memory of the food there, Vriska glumly ate her portion of the meal, glad to have escaped but sad to no longer get to eat the fine cuisine

At first Vriska found it somewhat hard to sleep, remembering the large group of people that had tried to break into the station, but soon found solace in the fact that a boy with literal laser vision was standing guard outside, and fell asleep with a small smile on her face.

The next day got them back on the right path.

"Do you know what we need?" Vriska asked.

"How the fuck could I know what'th going on in that methed up head of yourth?"

"Bicycles. It would be so much quicker and we could just strap these stupid rucksacks to them," she said, ignoring his comment.

Sollux snorted, "Good luck with finding a bike here. Let alone two,"

After a few more days with much of the same views and conversation, they found themselves on a road again, with this one having a sheer drop on the right hand side, with only a barrier for safety.

"Is that a pub?" Vriska asked at a building up high in the distance.

"A what?"

"Right, I forget the US does't have them,"

There was indeed an inn, presumably once for hikers to rest for the night, but like the station it had fallen into disrepair long before the flooding. With a few shoulder slams from Vriska, the door soon crashed open and weapons in hand, the pair tentatively embarked inside.

Empty.

Their first port of call was to barricade the door as heavily as possible, made easier by the tables and chairs inside. The pair then made their way upstairs, deciding upon a room that faced the path below as their 'base camp' of sorts.

At the back of the inn, Sollux discovered a cosy room containing what looked to be large basins for bathing in. There was graffiti and other minor vandalism here and there but most seemed to be intact. To their surprise, the water also seemed to be working, though what came out of the taps was bitterly cold and an off putting shade of brown at first. Once the water ran clear, they filled the largest tub, throwing in assorted bath salts and bubble bath they found in the cupboards before Sollux heated the water with his optic blasts until it steamed.

As there was no natural light in the room (and the electricity had been shut off so there was no point considering that) as many candles as possible had to be lit, accompanied by their torches. Their belongings were brought in, then the door to the baths was barricaded up and the pair stripped down to underwear.

"Ahhhh!" Vriska gasped with bliss as she slowly sank her aching body down into the water. She could not remember the last time she had had a bath, but it was most likely years, and definitely something she missed. Showers were alright but nothing could quite compare to a hot bubble bath.

Surprisingly, sitting in a bath with Sollux in only underwear was not at all awkward. Vriska decided that after everything they had been through, this was nothing in comparison. Besides, at the moment both of them were nothing more than heads floating above the water.

"What happened to your thhoulder?" asked Sollux upon noticing the large scabs marring her skin.

"Mountain lion," she replied casually.

"It would thuck if someone broke in right now,"

"Our luck has been outright shitty the past few days, so it should be alright now," she yawned. "If you jinx us though I swear I'll drown you in the toilets,"

"You're thuch a lovely young woman, Vrithka,"

"Thanks, I try" she snorted, before taking a deep breath and submerging her head beneath the water, running her fingers through her hair to scrub the dirt out. Thankfully the water was incredibly murky from the bath salts, so all the dirt from the pair was not overly visible.

"Is there any shampoo?" she asked once above water.

"No. We were lucky enough to find all this thtuff, thhampoo would have been puthhing it,"

"Ehh,"

Vriska sat up suddenly, grabbed a bath bomb she had found and dropped it in. First a layer of gold glitter spread across the surface of the water, followed shortly by end explosion of crimson as the main body of the bath bomb dissolved.

"It lookth like mutant blood. That'th fucked up," Sollux commented. "Thpeaking of mutant bloodth, did you hear thothe rumourth about KK?"

"No, the only person I spoke to was Eridan, and Karkat was the only person he didn't talk shit about, other than Kanaya,"

"Kanaya tho wanted to get in your pantth by the way,"

"What!" Vriska cried. "Since when?"

"Pfft, of courthe you'd be too dithtracted by TV,"

"I fucking wasn't! Explains a lot to be honest though. Hope she didn't think I was leading her on,"

"Thince when did you feel bad for the dumb thapth who crush on you?"

"Kanaya is nice. She helped me out a lot, unlike the rest of you dumb fucks,"

"You wouldn't recognithe her now; thhe'th changed a lot. Become a lot harder,"

"Good for her," Vriska shrugged.

"Anyway, what were you saying about Karkat?"

"Oh yeah, FF was telling me how thhe'th pretty thure he'th a mutant blood,"

"Oh yeah?"

"NP thaid that thhe remembered a little from thothe fightth they made uth do ageth ago, and how KK wath really over defenthive, like obviouthly you dont want to get hurt, but thhe reckonth there wath thomething dodgy going on,"

"I doubt that means anything though. He's just a crabby little asshole. It wouldn't surprise me if he was doing it just to mess with Nepeta,"

"Nah, that girl knowth thhit about body language, if thhe thayth thimething ith up, then thomething ith up,"

"I'm not convinced," she pouted.

"Think about it. There ith, or wath, one of every blood colour. Kinda weird don't you think?"

Vriska looked up at the ceiling and thought about it. Unlike Sollux clearly, she did not pay much attention to the blood colours of the group, but it was worth a go.

' _Maroon blood is... Aradia? Bronze is Tavros of course. Sollux is the gold blood. Lime blood, no idea I don't think anyone is lime. Olive blood... Nepeta possibly. Kanaya is the jade blood. Terezi is a teal blood. I'm cerulean. Equius must be indigo. Gamzee is purple, no one else could be. Violet is fishface, and Feferi is tyrian... Oh_.'

"Watching your face ath you went though that wath fucking hilariouth,"

"Shut up," she snapped. "That is fucking weird though, when did you notice?"

"FF. Thhe'th all about blood colour meaning nothing, but that doethn't mean thhe doethn't manage to sniff them out like a blood hound, bleth her," Sollux paused for a moment, then snorted at his pun.

"Oh god, I forgot you two were dating,"

"I almotht feel bad for you, ED mutht have never thhut up about uth,"

"That he didn't. I bet you two were disgustingly cute. But yeah that's just... huh. And the only gaps are lime blood or mutant blood, and Karkat definitely flushes red," Vriska frowned, then smirked as she propped her legs up on the opposite side of the bath. "Well done, Sherlock. Never thought I'd meet a mutant blood!"

"Explainth why he hath a chip on hith thhoulder the thize of fucking Ruthia,"

"When will the two of you admit you're in the deep throes of passionate hatred with each other?"

"You can fuck off," Sollux jabbed his finger at Vriska's leering face before reclining against the side of the bath once more.

This did nothing to stop Vriska giggling at him, promoting him to playfully swipe her legs off the edge of the bath where they were resting beside him, and into the water.

"Forget girlth have body hair,"

"Oh? Does this not turn you on?" she pouted jokingly as she held her arms over her head. "What do you expect when we don't have a razor,"

"I don't really give a fuck. Mith thhaving my face though," he replied, rubbing his jaw where a decent amount of facial hair now resided.

"Yeah, I only shaved my legs for those dumb parties the Condesce sent me out for; the guys I was targeting were the kind who liked that hair free look. Don't miss that at all. Though I did like having hair free armpits. All this feels gross, I heartily recommend shaving the pits,"

"What do thmooth legs even feel like?"

"Like your legs are dolphins. It admittedly feels great, but the upkeep is boring,"

They continued talking shit for a while longer.

' _I'll just close my eyes for a second_ ,' Vriska decided, and it seemed that Sollux had the same thought.

Before long, the pair found themselves sitting up suddenly (Vriska, because some of the wax had made its way over to her cheek and burnt it, and Sollux due to her scream of shock). The water they were sitting in had long gone tepid, their fingers wrinkled and many of the candles no more than puddles of wax.

"Thit."

* * *

 **== Be someone we haven't heard** **from in a while!**

You are now Jade Harley, and you are making tea.

From the oven wafted the fragrant smell of rosemary and garlic as the islander pulled a tray of roast potatoes from the oven. Shutting the door with a swing of her hips, Jade placed the tray on the draining board and carefully used a knife to test if the meal was cooked.

Crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Perfect!

With a small but nonetheless toothy grin, she scooped them out of the tray and into a serving dish, before placing them on the table alongside the vegetable stew.

Ping!

Jade hurried over to the microwave and took out the leftover rabbit meat, which she also added to the table.

" _John_!" she shouted. " _Tea's ready_!"

"Okay!" came a faint shout from downstairs. He had five minutes before Jade would start eating, a rule they had both agreed upon for when the other was working in the shop. Fortunately, John only took a few minutes to shut up and was up like a bullet.

"Looks great," he commented as he sat down. "Though heating up a bunch of my leftovers doesn't really count as completing your cooking chores."

"Pfff, food is food!" she laughed and dug into her meal now that John had served himself.

For a while they spoke about the day's shenanigans, then they were quiet for a bit as they continued eating.

"So," John murmured. "How have you been... You know, the spacey thing."

"Oh!" Jade said, then lowered her voice and said with a teasing smile, "The spacey thing,"

"Yes, the spacey thing,"

"I want to practice, but I'm just so scared that I could release another one of those weird creatures,"

"Fair enough,"

"Did you see it?"

"I don't think so, no,"

"Ahh, I don't know. It was scary but at the same time it didn't seem to want to hurt me at all!"

"Huh, well would it be a bad thing to release another one then?"

"No," Jade said forcefully. "Not only don't I even know what it is, but I don't want to risk another one being killed if they are harmless."

"Yeah that's a good point," John shrugged, then began collecting plates.

"And the windy thing?"

"Still no luck! I've been practicing trying to move things in the shop but I think I'm just freaking out the customers,"

"I still don't get all this stuff with the acid rain either,"

"It's not too much if a stretch to imagine that the Condesce engineered it somehow," John mused as he began washing up.

"Well that's awfully nice of the Condesce! She's already wiped out a shitton of habitats for flora and fauna other than humans with the tidal waves, but its nice to see she's thinking about harming only people now!" Jade frowned, aggressively drying the baking tray.

"Shh,"

"Huh?"

John said nothing, but dried his hands on the dishcloth and headed for the bathroom which was the base for the egg. His head suddenly popped out with a grin as he motioned Jade into the room.

"It's hatching!"

"Aaa!" she shrieked, dropping the tray, cursing then sped to the bathroom.

Propped up in the sink on a nest of blankets was the egg, shaking from side to side as whatever was inside chipped away at the shell.

A piece of shell fell, followed by another and another. The creature inside was clearly much smaller than the egg it occupied, and Jade worried that it might be hatching prematurely.

Suddenly, a tiny clawed hand poked out from inside, and Jade moved closer, helping the creature out, prompting a gasp of shock from the girl.

Inside was a small baby bird... thing, about the size of a tennis ball.

Fuck it, Jade put her hand into the warm, gooey insides of the egg and scooped out the creature.

Nestled in her palms, she could now see it much better. The bottom half of the creature was a strange, almost eel like tail. But as for the top half, it was undoubtedly that of a wrinkled, newborn human, though its skin had an almost pale orange shine to it. Attached to the back were a pair of strange stubby limbs that Jade recognised immediately as a baby pair of wings, and to add to the bird features, the arms and human hands of the creature had the texture of a crows foot on them, with small claws tipping the chubby fingers.

It was messed up, but it was undoubtedly Dave.

"It's a baby bird eel thing Dave!" John said.

"Yeah, it's definitely Dave!" Jade gasped.

**== Pet him!**

Jade ran a finger over the small tuft of blonde hair on his head.

At this, the baby reached out a tiny hand and held onto Jade's finger.

"Peep!" he cried, and at this their hearts melted.

"Oh my god he's so cute!"

"You're so adorable!"

"What do baby lab experiments eat?" asked Jade. "You're the bird expert, John,"

"Uhh, god, I don't know... worms? Breadcrumbs?"

"Do we have internet here?"

"I tried connecting to the port in the wall, but no results. It probably went down with the tidal waves,"

"Damn, how will we know what to feed him?"

"Maybe one of the villagers will know. Until then he'll have to make do with the leftover yolk from his egg."

Said leftover yolk seemed to go down just fine with the creature, though before long he fell asleep in John's hands, clutching at his thumb for warmth. An hour after his 'birth' the baby was already looking much sweeter, with his cheeks having filled and the wrinkles gone, though his eyes still had not opened.

"We have to feed him every ten minutes from dawn to dusk I think," John said. "If he's anything like a baby bird. But he's also like a human so?"

"I can't really remember what baby people eat... Oh yeah! Milk!"

"I have no idea where we're going to get that," pouted John.

"Well I'm not feeding him if that's what you're suggesting!"

"What? No, I wasn't saying that at all!"

The Dave thing did not seem to be mobile outside of wriggling from side to side and grabbing things with his hands, so they decided that he was safe enough if they filled a basket with blankets and placed him in the middle of it, with one of them covering him for warmth. They placed this bundle in the gap between the sofa bed and the radiator, and were thankful that he remained silent and asleep all night, until they were woken by loud chirping at dawn.

With that, a long day began.

* * *

**== How are the meowrails?**

You are now Aradia Megido, or what is left of her.

The three flew for a day, stopping only for food and toilet breaks. Aradia was certain that the only reason Nepeta returned with food was because of Equius' unwavering trust in the robot.

Though great swathes of the land were flooded, there were areas that had not been submerged, and this was where they rested. While the two mutants ate, Aradiabot would pull her hair over her shoulder, lie on her front and go into a sort of sleep/sunbathing mode as a set of solar panels unfurled from her back like delicate moth's wings.

Whenever Nepeta returned from her hunting trips her eyes were red and puffy, and her body often had a number of minor wounds, which Equius would fuss over like a mother hen. It was painfully obvious that she was running off to cry and vent her fury and frustration at the situation. The community she had been working so hard on to renew had just been washed away as if it was nothing more than writing in the sand.

Equius' work on her body was impeccable, even though even he did not fully understand the formulas that were fed into her mind. Regardless, Aradia could feel emotions fully again, and after the years of nothing but apathy, sensations were painful. The intensity of the love chip that Equius had implanted was particularly agonising, and it brought on an even more arduous bout of anger. Regrettably, she was lost to the sudden sensations and not only beat her engineer, but then kissed him!

Ugh.

The robot pushed her lips together. Thinking back on the events that had transpired made her feel embarrassed, and she hoped that Equius had forgotten the kiss already, but it was clear he had not by the occasional hopeful glance aimed at her.

UGH!

It was a mistake and she was not afraid to admit it. She would have to inform him, but maybe not when he was so nervous awaiting Nepeta's arrival, for that would be cruel.

Once Nepeta was back with a pair of skinned rabbits slung over her back, Aradiabot picked herself up, folding away the solar panels, and carried the pair of mutants once more until they found an oasis.

Thankfully, night had begun to set in, and so the water was not too hot. Before long, Nepeta had stripped down to her underwear and swam laps about the large pool of water, while Equius collected whatever fuel he could find to cook the rabbit.

As Aradia tended to the modest fire, Nepeta and Equius checked the perimeter once more for wild animals or people. The moon shone brightly and before long the pair were covered in mosquito bites.

"I'm sorry about Ponce, if I had known I would have made a stronger effort to help take her with us,"

"It wasn't your fault," Nepeta sighed. "I just miss her, and it doesn't help that we're stuck with that fake Aradia,"

"It really is her on the inside, you know,"

"Purrobably just the Condesce messing with us again,"

Equius simply sighed, knowing he would not be able to convince Nepeta that Aradiabot was safe; she would have to come to that conclusion on her own.

When they returned, the rabbits lay on a large leaf, cooked to perfection alongside some small yellow fruit. Aradia looked up at their return, the eerie glowing eyes of hers flicking back down to the fire.

"What are these these fruit?" Equius asked as he sat next to her.

"They are dates. You need more variation in your diet than meat." she replied in her deadpan voice. "I'm surprised you do not recognise them; Nepeta has prepared them for you dozens of times."

"Yeah! Good point!" Nepeta said with a pout. "A ghost robot thing remempurrs my cooking ofur the person eating it, typical!"

"My apologies, I was too busy eating to ask what was in the meals," replied Equius with a somewhat pale complexion, prompting a giggle from the two girls.

The meal went down well, with the mutants feeling full and sleepy.

"Are you content here?" Aradiabot asked.

"Why?" said Nepeta.

"I have business I must attend to. Business I can physically do now, thanks to my new form,"

Nepeta narrowed her eyes. "Oh? What business is this exactly?"

"You as a living mortal could not possibly understand,"

"Try me," the olive-blood frowned.

For a few seconds Nepeta glared at the robot, which Aradia returned with the blankest look imaginable.

"I have to kill Vriska Serket," she finally said, with a vein of emotion travelling through her words.

"Oh!" Nepeta's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, uhh, well how about that! Equius! Do you mind if we have a quick chat, thank you furry much!"

Once the Leo deemed they were far enough away, she hissed, "Look! She wants to kill people! That is not normal!"

"After all she has been through I am more surprised that she has not left us sooner. Her emotions will have been tearing her apart,"

"Well maybe if you didn't try to program her to fall in love with you she would not be so confused,"

"We can point fingers later,"

"Well what are we going to do? We can't just let her rush off to the retainment organisation. She'll get killed!"

The argument continued for a few minutes longer, until the pair returned to the fireside.

"Aradia. I understand that you're mad, but killing Vriska isn't going to solve anything! And besides, you can't just stroll into that purrlace,"

At this, the robot's face softened into a small smile. "Thank you for your concern but you need not worry. Equius' pieces are easy to find, and I am certain that she is no longer in that place. She must pay for her crimes. I am sorry for upsetting you, however,"

"You don't need to do this, Aradia," Equius agreed.

"This is not something that can be changed, sorry. If you wish to be moved, however, that can be arranged."

The mutants avoided Aradia's gaze, but eventually Equius said, "Do you know how close we are to a human settlement?"

"There is one an hours walk away to the east. That should hopefully be enough for you."

"Yes, not too close or too far," Nepeta sighed.

Aradia stood up. "Then this is goodbye,"

"Wait!" Equius flushed, looked to the ground then finally managed to hold the robots gaze. "Will we see you again?"

With a chuckle, the robot nodded.

"Don't go dying," mumbled Nepeta.

And with that, Aradia shot off to the west. It was time to make Vriska pay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yes, that kiss scene may have been inspired a little by the one in road to eldorado if anyone picked that up, and hopefully you guys like erikar! I started this fic off with a firm intention to have erifef endgame, but a friend of mine converted me, and I realised that I couldn't see the eridan and feferi I write in this ending together anyway so it all works out hopefully :) sorry to any erifef shippers though!


	10. Make her Pay 2: This Time it's Personal

**== > How is the Condesce doing? Shouldn't she be monitoring their progress on the mission or something? Be the Condesce when Karkat, Terezi and Eridan's mission began.**

You cannot be the Condesce then because she was asleep.

**== > Wake her!**

Was it a knock that had woken her?

The Condesce slowly sat up from her previous position slumped over the table and blearily looked about the room. Empty.

There was a strange wailing sound coming from the next room, and clutching a hand to her head, she stood up. The lights were blinding, thus the first action she took was to switch them off. How long had she been sleeping? A glance at the clock revealed that she had only been asleep for a few hours. She then turned to the mirror behind her desk and quickly made sure she looked presentable, before she called in Doc Scratch.

For the duration of the half-hour wait for the man to arrive from the other side of the facility, she messaged one of her closer subordinates as to the noise coming from the walls about her.

"Your highness, is there a problem?" barked one of the higher ups, an indigo-blooded surgeon with dark hair cropped close to her skin. Evidently she had rushed from where the soldiers were being treated, as specs of olive and bronze blood clung to her clothing.

"Cut the crap, it would please me greatly to know what that obnoxious noise is coming from the next room," the Condesce snapped.

At this the woman's complexion grew ashen, but she effectively hid her fear of the Condesce as she replied, "Ma'am, we are not sure what those noises are at present, but we have a team dedicated to finding out the source and are working as we speak now. We are fairly certain that the source is a modified version of the sprite creature Ms Harley released,"

"Fine, get out of my sight."

The Condesce waited for the soft chlink to signify the door shutting, then stood up and headed for the door at the back of her room, which led to her private quarters. Her neck was aching like nothing else thanks to falling asleep on the desk and the fuchsia-blood still had another twenty-five minutes until Doc Scratch arrived.

Sprawled out under the covers was Gamzee, the source of the knocking that had woken her. Clearly he had gotten bored and fallen back to sleep again in a matter of minutes. Fucking useless.

It would not do to have him here when Doc Scratch arrived, and as

Such the Condesce grabbed him by the collar and began to shake him.

"Get dressed and get out," she ordered once he was awake. She did not hesitate, not even at the lovesick gaze he gave her once his eyes opened; she could not afford to get attached again, and certainly not to this brutish subjugglator-in-training. Any feelings were purely his. Gamzee was her bodyguard and plaything when she was bored and frustrated. Nothing more.

The Condesce called for an errand boy to escort Gamzee off to his keepers, then brushed her hair and freshened up for the arrival of Doc Scratch.

"Good morning, ma'am," he said as he entered the room. Doc Scratch was one of the few people who did not exhibit fear around her. It was because of this that the Condesce immediately knew something was amiss at the uneasy look in his eyes.

"How did you fuck up?" she sighed, before her eyes widened. "Bring in the team I sent out to the base."

Doc Scratch grimaced, "They have yet to reach the inside of the building,"

"Is Ampora as much of a fuckup as his grandfather?"

"Debatable. They are on the correct path but they are traveling too slowly. Ampora and Vantas are fighting, and it is causing problems,"

"Ahh of course, the mutant blood. Well I can't blame him. If he was not useful to me I would have had the little shit culled long ago," she said, half to herself, before turning to face Doc Scratch once more. "To the control room. I should have been in there hours ago, why was I not awakened and informed of their departure?"

"You killed the last errand boy who attempted that,"

"Ah, of course."

Time was of the essence, thus they jogged to the control room, which was thankfully only a minute away. Any sort of movement inside was a pain for the tyrian blood thanks to her ridiculously tall horns, and she cursed her lack of foresight for not raising the ceilings further.

Inside the control room were rows of desks each with a computer and employee assigned to it. Monitors lined the walls all about them, displaying the view the bugs she had almost everywhere had, and various readings from the location and automatic subtitles of any conversation. All eyes were on one screen at the moment though, the largest.

On the back wall was a cinema sized screen displaying a first person view of someone making their way through a tunnel, and sat beneath it with a look of intense focus on her face was the jade blooded Kanaya.

"He's steering off the correct path again," an aide shouted, prompting Kanaya to produce a string of curses in her native Russian, before she fed back to Eridan that he was going the 'wrong damn way'.

Beside the Russian girl was a younger version of the Handmaid, looking pensive at the situation.

"Brief me," the empress ordered as she sat down.

"All is going according to plan, your highness. They are somewhat slower than planned, but it should not be an issue,"

"Have we got any intel on the angels?" the Condesce asked.

"Unfortunately we cannot see beyond the satellite images, but it does not seem as if they have been released," Kanaya's aide replied.

Kanaya had picked up the skill of being ground control (as it were) slowly at first, but once she was settled into it she soon became vital asset to the seawitch's endeavours. Not in the least because she knew how to deal with the pompous Aquarius.

The sound of aggressive arguing filled the air as Karkat and Terezi's faces occupied the screen in place of the previous tunnels. It seemed that Terezi was ordering them to stop fighting before they continued. Eventually the three left the vents and ended up in the open air, and it was obvious that Kanaya was distracted by the ocean view.

A while longer and they were heading up paths built by the refugees on the sides of the building. The jade blood realitterated the warnings about the 'angels', which went on closed ears until the aide on Kanaya's left gave a shrill shriek.

"The angels have been released!" she announced, but by the time Kanaya turned back to her monitor, Eridan had seemly fallen over as the screen was dark, and the only noises she could hear were Karkat's incessant swearing.

"What just happened?" barked Kanaya. "Eridan?"

He tapped out a short response.

"Terezi's gone and they're continuing with the mission," she eventually said, worry written all over her face.

"Where did she go?"

"They're not sure. She could have fallen into the water or she could have been attacked by the angel,"

The Condesce pursed her lips angrily.

"And the other two?"

"They... seem to be fine, albeit very shocked," Kanaya said after translating. "Karkat is incredibly distressed, and seems to have lost all focus."

"Great this is just what we need," the tyrian blood sighed. "Keep going, alert me if any important updates occur. Handmaid, with me."

The Handmaid frowned slightly, but followed nonetheless.

"I want to show you something," the Condesce eventually grinned once they reached a door. Her grins were always toothy, and given hers were narrow and dangerously sharp, it was enough to terrify even the bravest of souls.

The door in the question looked deceitfully simple, until the Condesce began the elaborate process of unlocking it; she had learnt after her previous error with the Psiioniic.

Inside the room was an odd looking vehicle, which the Condesce marched right up to, before opening the hatch and climbing down inside it.

"Come, come!" she called out to the girl, who reluctantly climbed down behind her. "Do you know what these are?"

A circular room filled the interior of the vehicle, and lining the walls of this were twelve coffin like structures. Through the window at the top, she could make out the faces of people like her.

"What is this?" she demanded.

"Just something I found a few years ago," the Condesce shrugged. "And they're ready for harvest... well some are. Most have been damaged."

The woman walked over to a control point at the centre of the room, and entered a number of commands, before the door to one of the far caskets flashed white. The eyes of the creature within opened suddenly, before squinting shut with pain as the liquid that filled the casket got in her eyes. Slowly, the liquid drained away before the tube inserted into her airways was extracted, as well as the other such needles and health monitoring pads were retracted, and then the door swung open.

At this the Handmaid's eyes grew wide with fear as she hid behind the Condesce.

A humanoid fell out of the casket, landing on her hands and knees as she coughed and retched.

Whatever she was, the creature was a seadweller, or something that looked similar judging by the ear fins and gills.

"You!" the Condesce called. " Get up."

"Get off my back and give me a glubbin' minute, will you?" the creature snarled. "Where are my clothes?"

The Condesce grabbed a satchel from under the control panel and threw it at the girl.

"Put those on, then report to my office. An errand boy will be waiting for you outside, he will take you to me," the Condesce said, before turning and leaving the vehicle, prompting an 'eep!' from the Handmaid, who dashed after her.

"Wait!" the creature cried. "That you Dam?"

"You're mistaken," the Handmaid said in the bravest voice she could muster, before leaving. She had always hated the whole biological engineering bullshit; the first time she had seen the Psiioniic all tied up had made her vomit.

After running to catch up to the Condesce, the woman turned to her and said, "There is our rescue party for Terezi."

"What is she?"

"She's me," the empress smirked.

* * *

**== > What's going on?**

Error: cannot access file now

**== > That's bs! Where did that girl come from!**

Error: cannot access file now

**== > UGH. Fine. Be Eridan.**

You are now Eridan Ampora at the front of this stories timeline, and you have been brought in for questioning.

Despite somehow feeling even more emotionally mixed up than usual, Eridan felt a curious tingle of hope in his chest. After his massive fuck up of kissing Karkat, not only had the Cancer not freaked out, but he had actually _kissed him back_. In ordinary circumstances he may have said that nothing could have brought his mood down, but in this case he was being marched off for interrogation, and as such no amount of reciprocated feelings of pity could make him feel calm.

' _I fucked up by takin' it too fast though_ ,' he thought. ' _I scared Kar_.'

Oh well, there was no taking back what had already happened. Besides, he had promised to himself after the Fef incident that he was going to stop being so down all the time like he was when he was younger. His piss poor attitude drew his best and closest friend away so much so that she shouted at him, which was so out if character that he flinched at the mere thought. He had fucked up their moirailagence big time and he would never get it back.

Enough moping, he decided after remembering that this was exactly what he needed to stop doing.

The tower seemed similar to the retainment organisation in that it was enormous and somewhat empty feeling. Walking through the corridors brought the prince back to his memories of the first journey him, Vriska, Aradia, Sollux and Feferi took into the accursed place. It had been terrifying, and even years later he still felt his heart twinge in fear as he woke and realised that he was still one of the Condesce's pawns. Naturally, this meant that whenever possible, before bed he would plug himself into the internet to pretend he was anywhere other than _there,_ otherwise there was no chance of him getting to sleep... well, other than having someone sleeping beside him; he had gotten too used to sharing a bed with Feferi, and it was a habit which had stuck. Sleeping alongside Vriska was no comparisson though, as she stole the blanket in her sleep as if her life depended on it, not to mention the snoring...

His companions, big burly US soldiers, were talking about activity below them in the refugee camp gathered at the waterline of the building. Apparently they had been noisier than usual after a seabird fell into the water. By the sounds of it they were starving though, so it was not really that unusual, or so Eridan thought.

Suddenly, the soldiers on either side of him stopped walking, and he found himself before a door. Inside was a woman with greying hair, dark skin and a very serious looking face.

"Good morning Mr Ampora, we are going to ask you a series of questions. Do try and answer them to the best of your knowledge," she said, with a strong New York accent. Her voice was calm, and it sounded more as if she was a concerned teacher rather than an interregator. Though reality soon kicked in as he was lowered into a chair and bound to it. "When were you first taken into the custody of TROLL?"

"I'm not tellin' you shit," he replied.

The woman gave a small smile as she pulled a few papers from her desk over onto the pile on her lap. "That would not be recommended."

Eridan merely gave her a defiant look, before turning his head to the side.

"Honestly, I would much rather go about this without any fuss, for both of our sakes. We have you caught and you are not going anywhere, you really should be a little worried,"

Snorting, the violet blood said, "You could newer scare me as much as She does. You may as wwell giwe up."

"She?"

Fuck.

"So who is this woman? Is she the head of the organisation?"

Having learnt his lesson, Eridan remained silent.

The woman pouted a little, before turning to her clipboard and writing a few notes.

"I have to say, your friend was a lot more vocal than you," she commented casually.

At this Eridan flinched.

"What did you to to Kar?"

"So his name is Kar is it? Short for Karkat or Karlso I presume?"

His face paled. He had messed up again.

The interrogator asked him a few more questions, with no response, until she began to rummage about through her papers again and pulled out a photo.

It was of an Inuit woman, possibly indigo blooded, with a stern expression betrayed by her laugh lines. She looked shockingly like Feferi, until Eridan realised that the woman pictured was Fef's mother. He had all but forgotten his days with her and by extension his father, being raised alongside Feferi at a brothel.

"You recognise her, don't you? We did some research into your history, as well as Ms Peixes' as we have reason to believe she was taken with you. Now, using this data we think we may have uncovered something very disturbing. Eridan, what do you remember of your grandfather, if anything?"

His grandfather? All Eridan could remember were vague memories of his father shouting down the phone at someone, and Feferi's mother comforting him after said conversations... as well as the one time a very gruff, pompous man came to visit out of the blue. Eridan was young, but he remembered the man had seemed flighty, and his father cried a whole bunch a few days later. After that, the calls stopped.

Another image was held up, showing a handsome older man, violet blooded, with scars across his face and an otherworldly look about him. He had the same kind of face as the Handmaid and the Condesce, in that his face was somewhat too long, and there was something unsettling about his eyes. Yet his skin was pale and freckled, just like Eridan's had once been, and there were no horns in sight.

"This is your grandfather," the woman said. "His name was Cronus, but he earned the nickname 'Orphaner Dualscar' due to his murdering of countless parents,"

"Wwhy did he murder parents?"

"Rumours were that he was feeding them to some wild animal, but the bodies were never recovered,"

Eridan snorted, deciding that was where he had gotten that murderous streak in his childhood from. He had forgotten about his plans to flood the earth, though it made little difference seeing as the Condesce had gone through with it now.

"He was mostly a pirate by trade, he would intercept shipping containers and holiday makers, steal their goods and hold them hostage for hefty sums. Though one day he was found clubbed to death in a small town outside of Johannesburg. A culprit was never caught, but the suspect was believed to be..." The woman rummaged about and pulled out another photo. "This man. He was never captured, however."

Eridan took back all bad things he had thought about Dualscar: this photo was the single most disturbing human he had ever seen. Dualscar had been rather dashing, even though he had been an awful man, but this... _thing_...

The image was of a man who clearly felt no remorse about his actions. His hair was an unruly mess of locks, and his face was smeared with a combination of stark white face paint and various shades of dried blood, with those piercing purple eyes staring right into the camera, open wide. He was smiling slightly, a hint of his yellowing teeth on show, and Eridan felt terrified. This man killed his grandfather, and he looked disturbingly like Gamzee.

"Finally, have you heard of a woman called the Condesce?"

Eridan concealed his emotions, and replied, "Sure, she's Fef's aunt, that's common knowledge."

"Well we have reason to believe that the people Ampora was killing were being given to the Condesce, and that once their agreement was over she removed him. But we have also uncovered evidence that she is not Feferi's aunt, but her grandmother,"

"Wwhy don't you arrest her then?"

"Easier said than done. When did you find out that the Condesce was the leader of this organisation?"

"I didn't say that," he frowned.

"Would you like to hear more about these ancestors? We have one on Kanaya,"

"Howw did you knoww about Kan?"

"Thank you for confirming her taking part in your actions,"

"Fuck!" swore Eridan.

He vowed again not to say another word, and managed to uphold it this time. The woman spent only another ten minutes before she decided it was enough for the day.

"Eridan, one last thing. We have someone on the inside of your organisation who has been feeding us information,"

"The fuck do you need me for then?"

"You'll find out shortly," the interrogator smiled, before he was escorted out.

His next stop was a operating room, where his eyes grew wide with fear at the sight of five surgeons waiting. The guards on either side of him grabbed his arms to prevent escape as he was manhandled into the chair.

Before his legs were strapped, he managed to kick one of the guards in the jaw, knocking him back, and he thanked his mutant genes for his increased height and strength. Due to this, he managed to leap to his feet and grabbed the tray the tools were being held in, along with a scalpel, and smashed one guard in the head with it. A sickening crunch filled the room, before he threw the other knife at the guards leg, sending him falling to the ground then smacking him in the head too. Both guards collapsed on the floor, he turned to the doctors who flinched back in terror.

"What can we do to stop it?" one whispered under his breath.

It? The comment was like a fist to his stomach. Eridan had once been adored, and now he was little more than a laughing stock at best, and a savage beast at worst.

After taking all the potential communicative devices from the surgeons, he stole a biohazard suit from the back and combined it with a surgical mask, hoping it would buy him some time in being recognised.

"Does anyone hawe keys?" he ordered.

"What are you going to do?" asked one of the braver doctors.

"None a' your business," he replied, then patted her down until he found a key card. "Do you need biological ID for this to wwork?"

"I'm not sayin- fuck okay, please put that scalpel down! Each door requires a fingerprint as well as the card,"

"Okay, you're comin' wwith me," he said, and grabbed her by the arm.

"What? No, get off me you freak!"

Eridan wheeled round until his face was centimetres from hers.

"It's takin' you wwith me, or cuttin' off your thumb. Wwhich do you prefer?" The surgeon gulped but said nothing. Eridan held the scalpel to her neck, and said to the others, "If word of my escape gets out, she's dead."

Due to travelling with a surgeon, he was not noticed for a good stretch of corridor, with Eridan following the signs for the stairwell.

"Wwhere are the prisoners?"

"Bottom floor, you should know that," the surgeon snapped.

"For someone wwith a knife at their back, you're awwfully cocky,"

They had just reached the stairs when a tranquilliser dart bounced off the thick rubber on his suit.

"Shit!" muttered Eridan, before glancing about in an attempt to find something he could bar the door with, but there was nothing. Instead, once he was through into the stairwell he kicked the card reader with all he had, realising his mistake when an alarm went off. " _Shit_!"

He held onto the surgeons arm harder before running down the stairs at breakneck speed, getting down a good eight flights.

Before he knew what was happening, he stumbled and pulled the surgeon down with him, the scalpel falling alongside until they landed and it pierced through the thick rubber of the suit and then into his calf. Pain flooded through his system as he barked at the woman to help him up, instead receiving a kick in the guts as she grabbed the key card and dashed off, calling him 'an evil mutant freakshow' as she went.

Ripping the knife from his leg, he chose to hobble down the next flight of stairs and continued in this fashion for another flight before he collapsed to the ground from the pain and blood loss.

"Gotta get Kar," he growled to himself, and dragged his body round to the next flight, then slid down on his butt, wincing at every step.

After six more flights of this, his vision began to darken, and on the seventh his eyes just about picked up a form before him, a soldier by the looks of it, who picked him up and called for help. With a soft voice, they whispered, "You're an idiot, Eridan."

And with that, the violet blood passed out.

* * *

**== > Is he gonna live?**

Like you're gonna be told that!

**== > (-_-)**

Error, no words recognised

**== > Okay okay, can we be one of the missing girls?**

You can be Terezi, Feferi is currently out of action

**== > She's dead?!**

No. Unconscious.

**== > Oh... be Terezi then, as she disappeared.**

You are now Terezi Pyrope of roughly a day prior, and you have just noticed a strange rustling sound on the wind while berating your team mate on being a classiest snob.

In the distance, Terezi could smell a blot of white travelling towards them, just about visible against the overcast sky, and she knew what must be done.

It was the elusive 'angel' that Kanaya had harped on about, and even from a distance it seemed mean, but it was getting closer.

Clank! The door swung open, and in a split second the teal blood whirled around and shoved Karkat and Eridan inside before barricading the door shut.

"Run!" she shouted. She could only hope the thin metal bar on the door would stop the monster, and if not they would hopefully have heeded her words.

Suddenly it was _there_ right infront of her, but she did not scream. Instead, she pulled the diving mask on, put the mouthpart between her teeth and stuck both middle fingers up as she fell backwards off the ledge towards the water. To her relief, she found that there was indeed sufficient water below her to dive into, and quickly moved into a correct diving position... or as correct as she was going to get when she hasn't had lessons for over five years.

' _Mum_?' she called out mentally. Ever since she had turned blind, her mother had spoken to her telepathically each night, asking about her day and so on. Oddly normal for what was a very unusual situation, but nonetheless Terezi looked forward to the conversations. There was nothing the woman could do to get her child back from the retainment organisation other than bide her time, and thankfully her mother had not been affected by the flooding. She had promised that she was on the case of finally bringing down the Condesce with Terezi's inside information. ' _Can you hear me_?'

To her relief, an almost immediate response came. _'What is it, flower_?'

' _I'm falli-_ ' began Terezi, before she hit the water and sank down into the cold depths. For a few seconds she held her breath, partially from shock and partially from forgetting she had a diving suit on.

' _Terezi, what's wrong, are you okay_?'

' _I'm okay, I think. Had to dive off a very high tower into the sea. Figured I'd get some last words in_!'

' _Oh dear, my lovely, those wouldn't have done at all as final words_!'

' _Whatever, I was panicking_!' Terezi replied as she swam to the air. Once her head broke the surface, she found herself sniffing from left to right furiously as she attempted to find land.

There!

A smudge of chocolate and brownie trifle over a vast expanse of blueberry slush, piled up against a pillar of coconut. The refugee camp? Hopefully they would take well to people like her.

' _Have you been in contact with more people about the Condesce_?'

' _I wish I had good news for you, but it's very hard to get people to take you seriously when you say you know all this information from your daughter through a psychic cconnection_ ,'

That was fair enough, she decided, and after more reassurances that she was okay, she cut connection with her mother.

The refugee camp was composed of hundreds of boats all strapped together. Some were enourmous yachts, some were little more than row boats with an engine strapped to the back, but all it seemed had heard wrong about the US base taking in refugees. Picking a boat from these to climb onto was the hard bit, as she wanted to avoid detection where ever possible, but eventually settled upon a smallish boat with a little cabin on top.

With every step further onto land, Terezi found herself shaking more and more, until she collapsed on top of the boat, curling into a ball: jumping off such a tall building was nerve racking for even the most seasoned soldier, let alone a blind child.

After a few seconds, she noticed a little boy staring at her from the cabin, and she did her best to look nonthreatening, giving him a big grin, before she remembered her teeth were all pointed like a dragon's. The little boy began crying from the sight and his face was replaced by an angry parent's. Shit, time to move out.

Before she could dive back into the water, the man cried out, "Wait! It's not safe outside, come in,"

"Like I'd trust you!" Terezi shouted back.

"Listen, please, I promise on my blood I won't harm you," he replied. Terezi sniffed more delicately in his direction and found the man before her to be a blue blood, thus his words were probably genuine. Besides, if he was lying and intended to hurt her, she could easily take him out. "Please."

"Fine,"

The inside of the boat was cold and damp, though it was obvious that the residents had tried to cosy it up as much as they could. Inside were who she presumed to be the boats owners: a burly but gentle looking man with an impressive moustache, and an equally burly woman with steely eyes. On her lap was the little boy and to their left were a small bunch of young women.

"I'm Arthor Zahhak, this is my wife Amylia and our son Sendul. And our maids, Fahria, Gledis, Xienli and Wrenel," the man said in his thick Scottish accent.

"Um, hello, my codename is Libra. It's probably safer for you if you dont know my real name,"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Libra," said Arthor. "I invited you here for one reason. Do you know of my son? Equius Zahhak? Or of Nepeta Leijon?"

Terezi blinked in confusion, and took full notice of the almost concealed look of confusion on the woman's face. "Wait, you're Equius' and Nepeta's parents?"

"I'm the mutant's stepmother: no child of mine would be mutated. No offence meant to you, miss."

With a snort, Terezi replied, "Right. But yes, I did know Equius and Nepeta. She was your adopted daughter, wasn't she? I'm not going to lie, I was much closer to her than to Equius,"

"You _did_ know them? What happened?"

It was at this point that Terezi realised that the Condesce could probably head all that was going on... probably, and if she could then she would be _mad_. She mimed for a piece of paper and pen, which were promptly given to her, and she then wrote out her reply.

'Not safe to talk. One of their friends was murdered before them and Equius was severely affected, so he and Nepeta were sent away. No one knew where or if they live still. When I knew them they both seemed happy enough, and they had each other.'

'Thank you for your help. I understand that you are unable to disclose much so any information is much appreciated.' Mr Zahhak wrote in a highly elegant script. 'You are more than welcome to stay here."

'I must go, your supplies are stretched enough, and my boss will be sending someone for me. If they find me here you could well be killed.'

'If you see them, just let them know they're in our thoughts.' Mr Zahhak wrote, before saying aloud, "Be very careful. Most people around here would gladly skin your kind alive after the flooding."

Terezi smiled and nodded, before dashing out and diving into the ocean to swim out to another boat patch. While she cared little for Equius (she, like most of the mutants, found him a little creepy),Terezi worried a lot for Nepeta, and would definitely keep her promise to her family if she ever saw the olive blood again.

A good twenty minutes away was a seemingly abandoned boat, with a large sheet of tarp at the front. Terezi gave the boat a quick once over from the safety of the water, then hopped aboard and ducked under the tarp.

An hour or more she lay there, hidden and as such safe. She could only hope that the Condesce would send out someone to come pick her up, as she had not a clue where she was in the ocean, nor how to get back to the retainment organisation.

After another hour had passed, a hand grabbed the tarp she was under and slowly lifted it, giving her time to shoot forward and pin the attacker to the ground.

"Let's chill the motherglub out, shall we?" a dry voice said. Beneath her was another troll, a seadweller, but not one she recognised.

"Who are you?"

"Doesn't matter right now. If I dont pull you outta here quickly the seawitch will... Just move it."

Sounded good enough for Terezi. The seadweller carried another scuba diving vest and air cannisters, which Terezi swapped for her own. In under a minute they were back underwater and swimming away as quick as they could. A few miles away from the base was a boat, which the pair climbed onto.

"So who are you? You smell like a fushia but there's never more than two, and you'd be the third..."

"I'm Meenah. I'm not sure what's going on or how the glub I got here though. That hag's got some explaining to do,"

"Huh? Where are you from then?"

"I'm from Beforus. I don't think this is even the same planet?"

"You what?" Terezi frowned.

"If I knew I'd tell you, trust me kid,"

Terezi pouted, but did not push the woman, for the information was probably withheld for a reason. Besides, she would find out soon enough.

* * *

**== > Can we be Aradiabot now?**

You may. You are now the ghost of Aradia, confined within the body of a robot, and have been traveling across the earth to find Vriska and make her pay.

It had been about a month now that Aradia had been traveling. She had begun in the United Arab Emirates, traveled through the middle east and then through northern Africa. The weather had been very sunny, much to her delight, and found that she would only have to stop flying for a few hours each morning, when she would walk instead. Her batteries would charge enough for almost full day of flying in an hour, meaning an hour of charging in the morning, before she set off flying, with her batteries depleting a few hours before sunrise.

Most fauna ignored her, seeing as she did not smell like a living creature, nor did they run away for she did not smell human. The metalic shine to some of her chassis attracted some birds however, and a few nights she found herself being attacked by starving carnivores.

Despite the anger blocking her circuits, she allowed herself brief detours to see the pyramids, Sphinx and other such archaeological icons, and she found her passion for the subject growing anew once more. Unfortunately there had been no time for thinking about her previous interests, but nonetheless she carried the illustrated archaeology book with her now, hidden away in a compartment where her stomach would have been had she been human. There had been just enough space for it, and Aradiabot liked to think that Equius had left the space for it. After all, he had saved it for her after her murder.

While on her travels, Aradia thought of Nepeta and Equius often, as well as the rest of the trolls. The years she had spent confined inside Equius' mind had been immensely dull as he was one of the few people she could speak to, and certainly one of the few normal ones. There were a few other spirits floating about, especially when they were still in the retainment organisation, though most of them unnerved Aradia (she was certain that a number were pedophilles). A few of them were kind people though: one was a slight woman with an immense concern for Tavros' safety, and another was a proud father of three young girls.

He had seen a small girl crying to herself down an alleyway on his way back home from work one day, and upon making his way to her, found himself knocked out. He woke up strapped in a chair with the little girl on one side of him and a tall intimidating woman on the other, presumably the girls mother. The woman left the girl to do the work, resulting in her pushing a number of needles into various points on his body. The blood from each needle was going into a carefully labeled bag, and as he noticed one called 'juggular' being picked up and began to struggle. Though the memory was hazy, he recalled her jabbing the needle into his neck, before the child swore angrily. Next thing he remembered was seeing his body limp on the table beneath him, with a vial nearby labeled 'last drops'. He had bled to death.

When Aradia asked what had happened to the bodies, he said that his flesh had been eaten and his bones ground into fertiliser for the woman's garden.

Revolting!

Truely revolting, and now that she was able to feel again, Aradia felt horrified enough to throw up; an odd sensation when one did not have a stomach. This memory drove her through her journey and renewed her sense of purpose.

When she reached the shoreline, the robot wondered how well her robotic body would fare against the ocean. On the one hand, she did not need to breathe, but on the other, much of her body was composed of metal with minute electrical charges travelling through all the wires and switches or... something. Hell if Aradia knew how this chassis of hers worked. As if a search queery had been posted, however, a little part of her robotic mind seemed to open up, reminding her that her body was indeed watertight to an absolute maximum of one-thousand metres, with anything more resulting in the destruction of her body. As a spirit, she wondered if it would be possible to possess a fish though, as part of her wondered what it would be like to swim down and down and down until she reached the ocean floor.

Saltwater rushed about her feet and then continued up the beach, before inevitably pulling back into the sea, and Aradia could feel the sand beneath her heels being washed away with it.

Her feet were cold.

 _Cold_.

It was still so novel to feel, but the cold reminded her of when she was restricted to floating about as a ghost, and the idea of returning to feeling nothing _terrified_ her. Aradia quickly allocated part of her robotic mind to think about paradoxes, and her body soon began to warm again as it got itself into a state and began to work hard.

When around Equius she fought back the emotions furiously, not wanting him to know about how much she felt. She hated how he thought just putting a chip in her heart would give her feelings for him! Hated it, because fuck it she already _was_ getting feelings for the blue blood, and he did not need to do that, but by doing it he betrayed her trust completely.

In contrast to the soft crashing of the waves, Aradiabot put her face into her palms and began to sob, her crying only growing louder as she realised that tears were falling from her eyes. Equius had put so much thoughtful work into this, he had even used his own blood to fill it out, and then he had to ruin it by essentially forcing himself upon her!

Over the past years he had gotten so much better about the hemospectrum issues, but... ugh! Aradia plonked herself down on the sand, then immediately regretted her decision as the waves ran up the beach and wet her skirt and thighs. The skirt in question had been a beautiful piece of work that billowed about behind her as she walked, with a subtle geometric pattern dyed into the fabric. Of course, it had gotten ridiculously torn up while walking through the savanna, much to her dismay.

It felt good to cry, and before she knew it she sobbed about her death, the fate of all the twelve trolls and the fate of the earth. But crying would not fix any of her problems... and really neither would killing Vriska, but hell it would make her feel better.

A shell washed up beside her and she picked it up. It was dark with hints of greys and purples showing, and she smiled, before stashing it away in another compartment of hers. She then pulled off her skirt and wrung it out the best she could, before setting it on the hot sand behind her. The sun was still high in the sky so the skirt was dry in a matter of minutes, and was placed in the same compartment as the shell.

Using a piece of seaweed she found, she tied her hair up into a ponytail, then walked out into the ocean until her body disappeared under the waves.

Getting into a rhythm was important concerning her travel across the Atlantic, and she decided very early on that she did not want to be swimming at night, as the open ocean was bad enough in the daytime, let alone at night! An hour or two before sunset she would open out her solar panels and lay with them spread out on the surface of the water, her face staring down at the endless blue below. This was by far the worst part of her day, as she saw a number of dark shadows below her whenever she did it. How Eridan and Feferi were at home in these conditions she had no idea.

As soon as the batteries were full she snapped the solar panels away as fast as possible before shooting off into the sky and flying a little while above the ocean. Most nights were cloudy, though when she flew high enough she was greeted with a full sky of stars, and the view was breathtaking.

On her trip she saw sky whales and enormous sharks and all manner of sea monster from the mutation triggering waters. Her favourite encounter was an enormous shoal of flying fish who glided about alongside her. Her worst was the sight of an vast tentacled thing in the waters below, that shot out and grabbed an enormous sky whale from beside her. The journey after that was far more cautious.

One time after charging her batteries fully, she let herself drop from the surface and down into the depths of the ocean. To her disappointment there was very little to see due to the murkiness of the water. A shark noticed her while on this adventure, and she hitched a ride on its back for a short while after it learnt from biting her body that she was not food. It seemed pissed off, but it was a quick way to travel and she felt badass as fuck, not to mention safer. Her travels came to an end when it began to veer off course.

She spent almost another month crossing the ocean, and once land began to hazily appear in the distance she put all of her energy into shooting over the water, before reaching the debris covered beach of what was formerly the US just as her batteries depleted. When Aradiabot's foot touched solid ground, she found her body collapsing into a small pile on the floor, before she spread out and extended the solar panels from her back.

The ground was warm against her skin and she wished she could take a break for a few days, but she had no time to waste. As soon as she was fully charged she picked herself up and emmited another signal from her body to find Equius' robotic pieces. Both Vriska and Tavros seemed to be underground. Odd. While she could not pinpoint their location she could certainly go to a rough approximation of where they were, though later that day Vriska began to trek aboveground. Perfect.

Though the closer she got, the more she remembered Nepeta and Equius' pleas to not kill Vriska. Ugh! They did not get it. It was tough being a murder victim. It was tough and no one understood... mostly because all the other victims were dead.

Wanting time to think, the maroon blood decided to walk most of the distance, and flew at night.

Yet whenever she talked herself out of what was to come, she remembered the stories she was told of the siphoning, and the look in the cerulean blood's eyes as she wound up Aradia about Tavros' legs, and her determination was renewed.

* * *

**== > Make her pay!**

You do not need to tell Aradiabot twice. She is on her way.

**== > Be the bluh bluh huge bitch**

You are now Vriska Serket, and you are having an argument with Sollux Captor.

"It's all true! I met your granddad, why would I lie about that?"

"You lie about fucking everything, Vrithka," he sighed.

Vriska had decided after much deliberation to go ahead and tell Sollux about what she had learnt from the Psiioniic. He believed none of it.

"Okay, well tell me why Aradia and the Handmaid look so similar then!"

"People can look thimilar without being related,"

"They can but they're pretty much the same person, only Aradia was much shorter,"

"Well maybe if thhe wath thtill alive we could draw a comparithon!"

"Fucks sake, I already told you why I did that!"

"That doethn't change the fact that you killed her,"

"I said I'm sorry, okay?"

"Thorry doethn't bring people back to life,"

"Neither does moping endlessly about them,"

"Fuck you. Thhe was my friend, you know that,"

"You realise she had a crush on you, right?" Vriska said with a devilish grin.

Sollux snorted, "Rumours,"

"Nope, they were true. Tavros told me,"

They continued for a while in silence, Vriska taking in the open flat grassland ahead. She could already hear the wind whipping across the flats, and pouted at the thought of having to cross it.

"How do I know you're not just lying about this as well?" Sollux said in a low voice, and Vriska realised she has not had a good fight since she was Eridan's kismesis. In truth, Aradia's death was not something she was particularly proud of, but if she wanted a fight with Sollux then bringing it into conversation would be the easiest way to wind him up.

"You have to wonder what the poor girl must have been thinking when the boy she loved suddenly killed her," Vriska drawled, running her fingers along the tree trunks as they walked. Suddenly she was grabbed, Sollux's hands on her shoulders as he pushed her against the cliff face rising up to their left.

"What are you trying to do?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed behind his glasses. Vriska attempted to taunt him more, but he shook her. "What are you trying to do?"

"I'm clearly trying to wind you up, shit for brains!" she growled, trying to shake him off, but failing. Damn, he was strong. For a second her mind then panicked, and she wondered what he was going to do to her, but she then decided that it would be out of character for him to do anything that nasty to her. She hoped. After another attempt to wriggle out of his grasp, she sighed, "You're hurting me, Sollux,"

When he faltered, she shoved him off, then knocked him off his feet and pinned him to the ground.

"Athhole!" snapped Sollux. "What do you want from me?"

"I'm bored! I want a bit of fun!" she smirked.

"Ithn't that what Eridan wath for?"

"I dumped him,"

"Doeth he know that though?"

"That... that's none of your business!" she pouted.

"Why are you doing thith, Vrithka? We were getting along again, do you really wanna ruin that?" He seemed calm, but Vriska could tell that he was about to snap. She had forgotten how much fun it was to fight.

"I'm bored, can't you tell? We've been walking for days with nothing happen, and you're bored too!"

"What about Tavroth? I thought you two were going out or whatever the fuck you'd call a relationthhip,"

"We're trolls, we're supposed to have relationships in two quadrants."

"We're humanth!"

"Don't you know anything about science? There's no way so many people would have such similar mutations. And definitely not with all these weird powers,"

"Thince when were you a biologitht? You were thirteen when you latht had a thcience lethon," said Sollux. "We're humanth, and all thith kithmethith bullthhit ith jutht an excuthe for you to get around and be aggrethive,"

"You take that back! I thought you were crushing black on Eridan anyway,"

"He may have been but I thure wathn't. He cruthheth on anything that moveth. And why thhould I take that back? It'th true,"

"It's not!"

"It ith,"

"Not!" Vriska grinned with a smile that was all teeth and fangs, before digging her nails into the tender flesh on his shoulders.

With a roar Sollux pushed Vriska back off him and got up, pulling her to her feet and pinning her to the cave wall again, this time with his hands wrapped about her neck.

"Ith thith what you want, Vrithka?" he murmured in her ear, as he tightened his grip. "You want me to kill you?"

Panic flashed in her eyes.

"I wanted to kill you after you made me kill Aradia, you know," he said, his grip on her neck getting tighter.

"This isn't what kismesis do, you fucking idiot," she wheezed, and kneed him hard in the crotch, before dragging her claws down his back hard enough to break the skin, leaving eight long, red lines down his back. The combination of both made him let go as he swore loudly, and she dashed off towards the flats. "Why won't you just believe me about the Psiioniic!"

"Ith that what thith ith about?" he shouted, barrelling after her.

"Maybe," she laughed, ducking under his blows, and dodging the optic blasts.

"You're a fucking bitch, you know? Maybe if you didn't lie all the time people would believe you!"

"But that's no fun!"

She danced about him, getting him more and more wound up until he engaged her in proper hand to hand combat. Both were good at it, for the Handmaid had taught them both and she was simply the best at it.

For ten minutes they fought, until their limbs grew heavy and their skin glistened with sweat that was soon blown off by the strong winds. The aforementioned strong winds were Vriska's downfall, as her hair kept getting in her face resulting in a large number of small blows to her body.

Fuck it, there was no way she was going to lose to Sollux of all people. He was a weedy nerd! With an unintelligible battle cry, she put her all into leaping forwards and wrapping her arms around Sollux's neck, making him fall to the ground, and pulled her down with him. At first they fought and struggled about more, until to her surprise, Sollux leant down and bit her hard on the neck over and over until her skin was covered in dark angry bruises. The bites slowly became kisses as he continued to press his warm face up against her neck, a pleasant contrast to the bitterly cold wind. Just as she had begun to relax in his arms, he ran his hand up the front of her vest and dug his claws into the soft skin of her stomach, making her wince and push him off, before returning the favour by pinning him down to the floor and burying her face into his neck to alternate between aggressive bites and somewhat soft kisses to brush away the blood.

Upon noticing him snorting, she pulled him up so they were seated alongside one another, and glared at him. "Why are you giggling?"

"Those kitheth tickle," he said. "Lookth like you're the one who doethn't know anything about being a kithmethith,"

"Fuck you! I know more than anyone!" snarled Vriska, before she grabbed Sollux by the back of the head and mashed her lips into his, both biting the others lip and ripping skin open with nails until the kiss relaxed.

One of Vriska's hands cradled the back of the low blood's head, and the other looped around his waist to pull him closer. Like with Tavros, there was an air of warmth and comfort about him, and she wanted to be as close as possible to that. Then his hands moved up to massage the base of one of her horns, and she all but melted into him.

Eventually they rested their forheads together, breathing heavily with arms wrapped close around the others waist, and the kiss stopped.

"That... that was weird," Vriska murmured.

"That'th what you wanted wathn't it?" he replied, voice low and huskier than normal, sending a small shiver through her core.

She rested her head against the crook of his neck and hugged his body closer. "I thought we would be good kismesis, but this just feels weird,"

"Tried to warn you," he snorted, resulting in a light punch to the shoulder. "Hah! You've gone thoft,"

"No I've not!" she shrieked, and Sollux was worried she would kiss him again, but instead she sighed. "Shall we agree to keep that between ourselves?"

Sollux gave her a confused look, "Vrithka, I've got to tell Ff. Thhe hath the right to know if I've been making out with other girlth. I know whatever you've got with Tv has only just begun so it'th not ath bad, but me and Ff have been together for a while now and I really love her,"

"I made a mistake, I know that. I just don't see why both our relationships should suffer because I made a mistake that isn't going to happen again,"

"Aww, you don't want to kith me again? I'm hurt!"

"Fuck off, asshole, you know that's not what I meant," Vriska smirked, then flicked her hair over her shoulder and tried her best to look disinterested. "It's a shame we don't have the chemistry for a kismesis though; you're hot when you're pissed,"

"Eathy girl," Sollux laughed as he stood, then offered a hand to Vriska. "We're better ath friendth,"

Friends. It had a nice ring to it.

"If you're my friend, you now have an obligation to stop me doing stupid shit, you realise that right?"

"Vrithka, are you for fucking real? You're pale flirting with me not ten minuteth after we were having the blacketht of thmoocheth?" Sollux laughed, and noticed that under Vriska's haughtyness and denials, a hint of blue brushed over her cheeks. "You really want to be moirails?"

"I want you in a quadrant, okay?" she snapped. "I hate to admit it, but you're a good guy,"

"Well, I'm gonna go pee. We can talk about moirailth after that. Be right back,"

He ambled off back into the forest as Vriska went and picked up their bags.

Now she was alone, a witness who had previously been observing silently from the bushes strode towards her.

"Vriska Serket," said a furious sounding voice. The girl turned and found herself face to face with a strange robot... Aradia?

"Is that you, Aradia?" she asked, dumbfounded, then noticed the wickedly sharp looking scrap of metal the robot held, and her eyes grew wide. " _SO_ -mpf,"

As the cerulean blood cried out for help, Aradia grabbed her and put a hand to her mouth, before lifting her up and dragging her a good distance from the gold blood.

"You have the gall to ask Sollux to be your moirail?" she snarled. "After all the pain you caused 'im?"

Vriska tried in vain to bite the hand before her mouth, but her teeth found only a resistant plastic.

"I know what you did," Aradiabot said as she dragged the girl away from where Sollux was. "You killed and ate people. Is there no end to your disgusting behaviour?"

Ate people? Vriska could have sworn she had never cannibalised anyone. That was more of a thing for Gamzee's blood caste.

"Don't bother denying it. One of your many victims told me. When you siphoned and the victim died you ate them,"

Vriska's eyes grew wide. There always was an abundance of fresh meat after a victim died, but her mother always brushed it off as having money for meat again... in fact they only ever ate meat after a death...

Ohgodohgodohgod.

Spidermum always invited the family friends round after such kills as well to share out the extravagant meals they prepared. Fuck.

"And let's not forget 'ow you broke Tavros' spine and gloated about it, and then terrorised the poor boy in all 'is years 'ere," Aradia said, her voice getting more strongly accented as her anger increased. "And of course, you murdered me in front of everyone else, using poor Sollux to do so! Do you know 'ow many sleepless nights 'e 'ad? C'est degoutant!"

The maroon blood then began to scream at Vriska in French, shouting words Vriska mostly did not understand, though she got the gist of what was being said.

Suddenly Vriska found herself pinned to the ground again, only this time it was not black flirting. Aradia then took the scrap metal blade and stabbed it into Vriska's hand then down into the ground, and removed another four knives, stabbing her other hand and her two feet into the ground in a similar fashion. Once Vriska was violently biting her lip to prevent giving Aradia the satisfaction of her crying (and failing) the robot took her hand away from the cerulean blood's mouth.

Immediately, Vriska began to shriek and call for Sollux, as she found out quickly that Aradiabot could not be controlled mentally. No reply came though.

"What are these?" Aradia asked as she took in all the love bites on Vriska's neck and shoulders.

"S-Sollux gave them to... to me," Vriska choked out between the pain and tears, still wanting to wind up the girl even as she was about to be killed. "Didn't y-ou see us-s-s, hav-ving the dark-kest of s-smooches?"

Aradia gave her a disgusted look.

"JJ-jealous... are we?" grinned the high blood. "That hot piece of ass is already t-taken-" At this point, Aradia smacked Vriska about the face. "JEEZ WHAT THE FUCK?"

"He'd never take you of all people in a quadrant, you lie,"

"When did I s-say it was me? He's in love with Feferi! You're a f-f-fucking robot, and even if you weren't you dont have a chance with him, so let's keep Sollux out of this,"

Vriska could have sworn the robot's porcelain face somehow got paler.

"Like you did?" Aradia frowned, then took her final knife and slowly pushed up her top, making a frustrated noise at all the angry cuts and scratches already in existence on her body.

"Sol roughed me up bad already, t-theres nothing more you can do so just fuck off ba-ck-ck to wherever you came f-from," Vriska coughed, and at Aradia's sneer of distaste, said, "He's a great kisser, though you wouldn't know of course. Alm-most as good as Tavr-"

"What?" Aradia roared, stabbing the knife into Vriska's arm and twisting it until it found bone. "How dare you lay a finger on Tavros!"

Vriska screamed at the top of her lungs at the pain, shouting for help or for Sollux.

"Even as you are at the mercy of someone for your life, you still belittle and mock them. Are you stupid, or can you just not help it?"

"C-can't hh-h-h-help it," stammered Vriska through gritted teeth. "Sollux will be here any minute and you'll be fried,"

"Why would 'e give a fuck about you?"

"Did y-y-you not s-see all the loveb-bites on my neck?" Vriska grinned weakly. Tavros was a sorespot for Aradia, so she would avoid mentioning him, but talking about Sollux captured the mad robot's attention, and if she wanted to put off more pain then she would gladly exaggerate or indeed fabricate aspects their relationship. "We escaped from the retainment organisation t-together and ever since we-we've been switching between flushed and black,"

"I thought you said 'e was in love with Feferi!" Aradia snarled, running her knife along the scratches Sollux left, cutting them just deep enough to rupture the muscle.

"AAAAARGH, SOLLUX! HELP, SOLLUX!" Vriska screamed, before sobbing. "I lied okay! I was trying to wind you up. He barely talks to her, I'm sorry!"

Aradia was silent for a wwhile, then said, "Sollux likes... you? He would chose a violent, disgusting person over literally anyone else? He chose the girl who murdered me as his matesprite?"

The robot straightened out her spine, and stared out into the distance, hair whipping about her face as Vriska screamed and screamed for Sollux.

"Enough," she said finally, and picked up the knife for a final time. "You killed through letting your victims bleed to death, and thus that is 'ow you will die. But I will allow you a kindness, as you gave one to me when I died when you put me out of my misery. I will paralyse you from the waist down, so you will not feel all,"

Putting all her remaining energy into one last attempt at being saved, Vriska screamed at the top of her lungs, but still no reaction; Aradia must have pulled her far away from him. The snapping of Vriska's back was a quick affair, and Vriska scarsely had any time to process what had happened before the robot was hovering over her once more and creating rows upon rows of cuts up her arms and legs. But she could not feel her legs.

Vriska did not want to die, she was scared.

As more blood drained out her cries for help grew weaker and weaker, until Aradia stopped her cuts, and stood back to examine her work.

Suddenly, an optic blast knocked the robot back, and Sollux came barrelling towards her. Vriska just about made out that they were having a heated conversation before Aradiabot left.

"Vrithka? Fuck," the boy swore, before pulling out some bandages and beginning the lengthy process of covering her wounds. "Don't worry, I'm here, I've got you,"

Reality kicked back in, and forced her eyelids to open, and her eyes focussed in on Aradiabot carving more lines her legs. Sollux had not come at all, she had been hallucinating.

"Well, that is enough. Goodbye Vriska. I hope you enjoyed your life," the maroon blood said, before jumping into the air and flying off.

Coughing, Vriska pulled her upper half up into a seated position and looked down at what had once been her legs, then promptly vomited up the meagre meal she had left. She was thankful for the lack of sensation felt in them, but fuck there was blue everywhere.

"Vriska!" Her mind was playing tricks on her again, as she imagined Tavros' voice whispering sweet nothings to her and saying that she would be okay.

The pain was unbearable, and every movement caused more blood to drain out.

She was to die alone, and the thought terrified her. Moving or shouting for help was not an option, and so she lay down again, tears running down her face.

This was it.

The more blood she lost, the more her mind wandered, though through the hallucinations her body refused to stop rubbing in that she was utterly alone.

 _'You pushed everyone away, what did you expect_?' she reminded herself, and she bitterly regretted not making more bridges in her short life.

Her final thought was a single wish.

'Please don't let me die alone.'

The wish went unanswered.

* * *

Vriska Serket is now dead.

End of Part Three.

**== > Continue onwards to the Condesce's reign**


End file.
